Shattering Fate
by Bragi151
Summary: At the Academy, an international school for the supernatural, Nico has been Percy's best friend and secret admirer for longer than he cares to recount. But when Fate intervenes and Jason Grace, a new and powerful addition to the Academy, walks onto the scene and threatens to unravel years of devotion and work, Nico has no choice but to rend Fate's design. Alternate Universe.
1. Chapter 1

**Author Note**: Hello all! For my followers from other fandoms, sorry this isn't an update for your particular fic, but my author in this fandom has been pestering me to write a fic for him, and I shall. It's still sort of nebulous and ambiguous, but here's the first chapter. For all my new readers, whether you're fans of Son Of Hades or not, I hope you enjoy my fic! There will be a few OCs popping up, mainly because this world incorporates multiple nationalities and mythoses, and unfortunately for me, Rick Riordan does not have so diverse a cast that such a thing may be written without filling in some gaps TT_TT

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which is owned by Rick Riordan. I do not own Odd Magic either, for those of you who get the reference.

**Warnings**: Mild Cursing.

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When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. - Sherlock Holmes, Character of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

* * *

The lone blond took a deep breath before looking over his surroundings once again. This time, just as every other time he had gazed over the landscape during the past five minutes, left him dumbfounded. All he had done was walk into the local grocery market, as he had done times beyond counting, but instead of perusing aisles crowded with a legion of moms arguing with gaggles of children, as he should have been, he found himself in the middle of a well-kept marble walkway lined by precisely manicured trees leading up to what looked like something out of a medieval tale.

The strangest part, however, was not that he found himself staring at a giant building hewn of bleak gray stone and adorned out with turrets, towers and statues. (The phrase, "We're sorry, your prince is in another castle" ran through his mind, forcing him to smother a rather manic giggle. Or the beginnings of a panic attack, he wasn't quite sure.) He wanted to start laughing hysterically. He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream at the top of his lungs. How was any of this possible? The strangest part of this whole ordeal was the fact he was staring at this building in broad daylight. He looked at his watch. It still read twelve in the morning.

The blond young man shook his head, brought his fist to his forehead, and paused a moment. The last thing he remembered was helping an exceptionally, perhaps unnaturally, big boned giant of a woman with voluminous tangled white hair that dropped almost to the ground with her groceries in the not quite deserted parking lot of Ralphs, as it looked like some stray animals were attempting to make off with her food in the dead of night. He had learned that the rather large lady was actually helping the stray animals with their groceries, much to his chagrin and bemusement. She had thanked him for the help with a smile and a worn coin that she had said was a good luck charm. Jason had taken the coin, not wanting to draw out their interaction past the obligations of propriety and chivalry, and had promptly power walked towards the supermarket. Then, he had stepped from concrete onto marble, blinking at the sudden appearance of the sun in the sky.

And now he was back at the beginning of his little loop. Strange woman, door, sunlight, strange woman, door, sunlight. There had to be a thread of logic here somewhere, the boy thought to himself. Maybe he had just fainted and this was a dream. He pinched himself. It hurt. Not a dream, then.

Maybe this was some sort of hallucination? His mom had the unfortunate habit of dropping her needles wherever felt convenient at the time. It was possible that he could have stepped on one. That being said, he always made sure to wear shoes in the house to prevent something like that from happening. So no again.

As the young man grasped desperately at the unraveling threads of societal conditioning, he was startled by a hand clapping him on the shoulder, "Hey there!"

The boy nearly jumped out of his skin and turned around, taking a look at the stranger. He had a shit eating grin on his face that, combined with the rather devilish gleam in his sea-green eyes, served to worry the boy lost in a strange environment. That being said, the other young man was far from unattractive. He had a sculpted athletic build, which made sense since he was wearing some sort of sports uniform, and his unruly black hair was plastered to his face with sweat.

"Um, who are you?" the lost boy asked.

The stranger looked down at the boy, as the blond boy was a head shorter than he was, "Oh. You're one of those. I thought I felt something a little odd from over here. Nico said it must have been my imagination. Anyway, come with me and I'll help you get it all sorted."

The dark haired stranger tried to wrap a companionable arm around the boy's shoulders, but he shrugged it off, "I asked you who you are!"

The stranger laughed a little, "Sorry about that, my name's Percy. Percy Jackson. Now come on, I have to get you to the main office so I can hurry back to practice. Coach is going to kill me if he thinks I'm playing hooky."

The boy didn't shrug the arm off this time, letting the other male pull him towards the imposing structure, "Um, where exactly are we?"

Percy scratched his chin with his free hand, "Well, I suppose it's alright to tell you. You're at a school, of sorts. I'm not sure how much else I'm allowed to say."

"But I was in the grocery store!"

Percy laughed at that, "Ah, I had a feeling you were special. Let me guess, you saw a strange woman? Long white hair? Animals everywhere?"

The boy started, "Y-yeah, how did-?"

Percy interrupted with a chuckle, "Same thing happened to me! It happened to me when I was really young, though, but not many of us get scouted like that. You're the first, since me, actually. What's your name, by the way? I can't imagine them kicking you off campus, especially considering who brought you here."

"Um, I'm Jason. Jason Grace."

* * *

Nico grumbled under his breath as he searched through the halls of the Chancellery for Percy. He should have kept Percy at the training fields, but no, one look from those sea green eyes, and Nico was practically made of mush and was willing to do anything Percy asked of him. But now, Nico had been sent to find the older demigod, as Coach Hedge had noticed one of his star performers was missing.

Nico's orders were to "Find that lump of muscle before we have to go up against more of Coach Hu's monstrosities! I'm not losing to that flea covered sack of stripes simply because Jackson decided he wanted to take a stroll!" Nico had decided against reminding Coach Hedge that this was just a training session, and that there was no reason to get so worked up. After all, Percy had trained with Coach Hu just as much as he had trained with Coach Hedge. Nico had known that that wouldn't matter to the Satyr, however, and he had promptly jogged off to find his friend.

Nico, however, was now at a loss regarding where Percy had wandered off to. When Percy was occasionally in the mood to ditch, he only went a few places, all of which Nico had promptly checked. Now he was tired, hungry, and wet from shadow traveling to the bottom of the lake and back up to the surface after a fruitless search, but before the drowning had started. So, Nico had headed towards the Chancellors' Offices, sure that they'd know the other Demigod's location.

Nico was jolted out of his internal grumbling by the sound of Percy's laughter. Nico briefly entertained the notion of stabbing the Blue obsessed prince before shaking his head to clear it and walking towards the sound of Percy's voice.

"Do you know how much trouble you're-" Nico started as he saw that Percy had his arm wrapped companionably around a dazed looking, and annoyingly attractive, blond stranger, "Oh, hello." Nico said.

Percy gave Nico a smug grin, "A bit late to try for a good first impression now, Neeks."

Nico's expression tightened at the nickname, causing Percy to laugh again and the blond to chuckle awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head, "Oh, I wish I had a mirror! You should see your face!" Percy said as he bent over laughing, his arm around the blond tugging the shorter boy into Percy's chest.

Nico coughed into his fist, "I'm Nico di Angelo, nice to meet you. Who are you exactly?"

The blond gave Nico a wry grin, "I'm Jason Grace."

Percy had started to drag Jason towards the Chancellors' Offices again, and the trio started walking as Nico and Jason finished their introductions.

"Well, Jason," Nico put on the best smile he could manage, "it's unusual for strangers to find their way here, how exactly did you-"

"Great Goddess, Nico," Percy groaned out, rolling his eyes, "Jason's going to be interrogated enough as it is by the Chancellors. No need to start early."

Jason frowned at looked towards Percy, "Interrogated? Why would they interrogate me? I thought you said they wouldn't kick me out because of that strange woman?"

Nico kept his silence, but he could feel his heart palpitate slightly. This new kid had met with her? Been scouted by her? He felt his stomach clench in time with his fists, but did his best to listen to Percy anyway, "It's just standard procedure. They just have to verify that she sent you here, but they like to be thorough. I think it's because one of the Chancellors hates being here, so he tries to make it just as hard on all of us."

"Speaking of which," Nico said as they approached the end of the hallway, opening up the door for Jason and Percy, "It's time for you to meet the boss people, Jason."

The trio entered a rather lavish reception area, a lone mahogany desk standing sentry before a door with the word "Chancellor" carved into it. A young girl with tangled fiery red hair sat at the desk, which sported a placard that read "Best Secretary in the Multiverse", was piled with paperwork, a jar of multi-colored pens and highlighters, a laptop with an unlidded eye logo, and strangest of all, a dozen white mice zipping around helping the redhead file all of the paperwork.

"Percy, Nico, random stranger, Chiron and the others are expecting you," the redhead said without looking up, busily typing into her laptop with one hand while using the other to grab a paper that had just finished printing. Nico watched Jason start as the blond saw a mouse fly past, grabbing the paper and flying over to a cabinet another mouse had just pushed open.

"What the…" Jason gawked, his mouth agape as Percy pulled him along towards the door on the far left.

"Thanks Rachel," Percy said, waiving with his free hand as he walked past her and stood in front of the door. It was when he walked up to the door, however, that Jason noticed it had no handle. Nico frowned at the door, "Open," he said in a loud clear voice.

The door remained infuriatingly shut.

Rachel giggled and Nico swung around to glare at her, "I don't think you have the hang of it quite yet, Neeks. Percy?"

Percy focused on the door, and both Nico and Jason shivered as they felt their hairs stand on end, "Open," he said quietly. The door swung inwards, a wall of black shadows welcoming the trio. Jason gulped, but before he could say anything, Percy had already dragged him through the door, Nico following.

When the darkness cleared, the three of them were standing in a meadow, a large stone table with someone standing behind it a dozen paces away. The person waved them over and the trio set out, Percy practically dragging Jason forward with the arm around the shorter boy's shoulder.

"Wha-where-I-I don't think it's a good idea for me to stay here anymore," Jason's voice was mostly calm, despite the stuttering, but Nico could feel the fear radiating off of the other boy. Nico supposed he shouldn't blame the blond overmuch for his reaction. He hadn't fared much better when he had first come. But Percy's arm was firmly wrapped around Jason's shoulders, and though Jason looked to be in pretty good physical condition himself, he wasn't a match for the taller young man.

Percy's voice was warm and not unkind, "Don't worry Jason, you'll get used to that type of thing. We're meeting with one of the nicer Chancellors, he's pretty much the nicest Centaur you'll ever meet."

"Centaur?" Jason had started digging his heels into the ground at the word. Nico frowned and glanced askance at the blond. Was this really such a big deal? While it had been some times since Nico himself had first come to the Garden, he didn't remember causing furrows in the landscape when Percy dragged him to the table.

"Okay, here we are!" Percy flashed his famous one-hundred watt smile at both Nico and Jason as he held the blond before the large stone table. Nico suppressed a flash of envy that Percy wasn't wrapping his arms around him instead. However, as the typical Percy-fantasy played through his head, Nico caught sight of Jason's blush at the larger boy's arms encircling him. Nico's eyes narrowed, but Jason was too caught up in both the feel of Percy against his back and the sight of the Centaur in front of him to notice.

"Ah, Percy, Nico, I assume this is our newest arrival?" The Centaur smiled at Jason. He looked to be in his early thirties, and wore a tweed jacket on his top, which trailed down towards the end of his torso to the body of a white stallion. "The other Chancellors should be along momentarily, but before they arrive, might I ask you your name, young man?"

"I'm-I'm-uh-" Jason stuttered, looking from Chiron to Percy to Nico and back again. Nico simply rolled his eyes at the blond's stuttering, while Chiron looked at him with an encouraging smile.

"S'all good, don't worry so much," Percy said as he reoriented himself so he was no longer holding Jason in a death grip in case he tried to bolt. Nico's internal green monster calmed somewhat, but he did notice that Percy still hung on the boy, his body tense and ready to spring into action, despite his calm posture.

"Ja-Jason." Jason finally mumbled. Chiron smiled and opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by a loud and slurred voice.

"A mosht in-inaush-inaushpishous name, I musht say," a large, but not necessarily corpulent, man said. He stumbled over to the stone table from behind Chiron, his curled brown hair swaying as he teetered and tottered his way to stand before the three young men. His eyes were drooping and his face was a bright intoxicating red. As if to prove that Jason was an ill-omened name, he took an almost angry swig from his golden goblet, splashing rich red liquid down his chin, which, instead of spotting his opulent red toga, seemed to almost flow into the coloring of the cloth.

"While names are a powerful thing," an old wizened Asian woman in a traditional Chinese robe said as she sat down in a stone chair that had appeared as suddenly as she had on Chiron's other side, "it would not be prudent for us to judge him on such a thing, yes? Come child, sit," she pulled a wrinkled little hand out of her voluminous red sleeves and waved towards them, causing three stone chairs to appear on the boys' side of the table, "be at ease. And young Perseus, stop hovering over the child like some sort of jailor. You have conveyed him to us. You have done your duty."

"Jeeze, Gran," Percy grumbled as he sat down in the chair opposite the Asian woman, "you know I don't like my full name." He had thudded down into the chair, smirking playfully at the old woman as he rested his cheek in his palm. Jason sat down gingerly in the chair opposite Chiron, testing it before he sat down as if to ensure he wouldn't fall through it. Nico rolled his eyes at the blond's antics yet again before seating himself in the last chair, leaning indolently on the armrest, already bored with the proceedings. Why was he even sitting through this tedium? All he had been sent to do was fetch Percy and get back to practice. But, now that Gran had already conjured a chair for him, it was plain that she, at least, expected him to stay.

"Now, it's a pleasure to meet you, Jason. My name is Chiron." Chiron introduced himself. His smile was calming, and Nico had to fight to keep himself alert. He knew that Jason probably wouldn't stand a chance against whatever magic the Centaur was using. As he set his gaze askance, however, Nico noticed that Jason was, indeed, quite alert.

Nico caught Percy's gaze and the boy smiled and winked. He had noticed Jason's unaffected state as well. Nico held back a frown. He didn't understand how a newcomer – a frightened, skeptical, and bedazzled newcomer at that – could possibly be fine when he wasn't. Another pang of jealousy flashed through Nico as he recalled that Jason had been _scouted_.

"Dionysush ish the name," Dionysus slurred before he took another swig from his goblet, "And, by yr looksh, yr anosher one _mine_."

Jason blinked, "Dionysus? Like, Bachus? Greek God of Wine?"

Dionysus rolled his eyes, "Why ish it that y'all focus on the _wine_. I'm the God of **Merrymaking**! Wine's just a side job." Dionysus sobered up as he tried to take another swing and found his goblet dry. He looked at the goblet as if it had committed a grave sin before snapping his fingers. Rich red liquid once again filled the goblet before he took a sip, only to spit out tea. "Daft wench!" The god raged as he threw the goblet to the floor, glaring at Gran.

Gran, for her part, simply smiled, "I, for my part, eschewed names long ago. You can simply call me Gran, as most of the children here do." Gran's gaze slid to the red faced god and her lips twisted slightly into a smirk, "And as for you, Dionysus, you should not be drunk at these proceedings. Tea is far more appropriate a drink to imbibe, both for you and for the children."

As she spoke, finely decorated cups of china appeared before Chiron, Gran and the three children, filled to the brim with steaming warm dark liquid. Nico just frowned at the substance. Like most Children of the West, he normally shied away from concoctions given out by Gran. Jason looked at the cup as he had looked at the rest of his experience thus far, with heavy skepticism. Percy simply tossed the drink back with a smile.

"Thanks, Gran." He said with a smile as he put the cup back down on the table with a soft clink, "That really hit the spot."

Chiron coughed to bring the session back under control, "Now then, Jason. I'm sure this is all very strange from you. But yes, my friend here," he gestured towards Dionysus, who had since conjured another goblet of rich red wine, casting dark glares over at gran as he nursed his drink, "is indeed Dionysus, or Bachus, the Greek God of Wine and Merrymaking. As you may have noticed, the three of us are not exactly what the rational world would call…" Chiron paused delicately to search for a term.

"Believable?" Jason answered for him.

Chiron gave the newcomer a warm smile, "Yes, I suppose that is one way to look at things. Regardless, I would like to hear the story of how you came here. The fact that Percy found you out wandering the grounds means that you more than likely did not find your own way here, but please, I would like to be sure."

Jason frowned before telling them the story. His mom, as usual, had drunk and shot up a good portion of the money save for what he had managed to hide away. He had taken what little they had to go find actual groceries once she had passed out and he wasn't in danger of being caught with money she could use for booze or drugs. From there, he went on to relate the curiosity of finding the long haired giantess, the animals, and not managing to get to the grocery store at all, but instead coming to find this place. Jason double checked his watch. Yes, where it was bright and sunny and happy at one o'clock in the morning. Jason almost started as he finished his story, almost as if he wasn't quite sure why he had revealed so much of himself. Nico was quite sure the too-pretty blond _hadn't_ intended to give them the truth, or at least, the whole truth, at any rate.

Dionysus and Gran were silent as Chiron laid his arms on the stone table, "Did this giantess give you anything?"

Jason fished in his pocket for a moment before putting the gold coin the giantess had given him on the table. The stone seemed to shudder as the gold touched its surface. The side of the coin that was up displayed an elaborate carving of a bearded man sitting atop a large throne. Nico knew the other side would be covered in old symbols. Nico's fists tightened in his sides and he looked over at Percy, who mouthed, "Told you so," before turning his attention back to the proceedings. Nico could feel the bile welling up in his throat. He gave Jason another one over. The boy was obviously an athlete, and despite the family problems he had mentioned before, he was obviously a social butterfly, too. Nico could feel his teeth grinding at the thought of it.

Chiron picked up the coin reverently, turning it in his hands, "Yes, there is no doubt about it. You are, indeed, one of us, child."

"One of what?" Jason asked, his eyes wide with shock.

"You're a scion, Jason." Nico said, not able to take the sheer blondness of the situation any longer. "You're not entirely mortal. You have something supernatural in your blood."

Jason shook his head, "That-that's not possible."

Percy shrugged and clapped Jason on the back, flashing the blond a smile, "Did you think any of this was possible? But the fact you had that coin means you're the real deal, Jay."

"What is it?" Jason asked as Chiron held the coin back out for him to take.

"It's a sign of luck, and of power, young one. The giantess you met is another one of the Chancellors, one given to travel. She wanders the world and gives these coins to those she deems exceptionally worthy of joining us here in this place of learning."

Percy took out a chain that had been hanging beneath his shirt. On it rested a coin similar to Jason's, but for the imagery. Nico couldn't see the coin, but he knew it well enough to know that the coin was not gold, as Jason's was, but a burnished brass with a square hole through the center, the image of a beautiful woman on one side, and Chinese calligraphy etched onto the other.

"Yours is different." Jason said, almost absentmindedly.

Percy nodded, "They were really confused when I came here, because of it. I'm a Child of the West, but the coin was Eastern. At first, they thought she had screwed something up. But she said that was the way it was supposed to be, and that was that."

Jason's brow furrowed, "Child of the West?"

Chiron smiled benevolently before looking up at the sun in the sky, "I'm sure you have a great many questions, Jason. But before we can answer all of them, I must ask you if you wish to stay here."

"What?" Jason blurted out. He looked at the Centaur as if the notion of his living there was more ridiculous than the fact that he was talking to a mythical being.

Dionysus nodded, "You were scouted. You did not come here of your own will. If you so desire, you may stay here, in this place, and learn, about who and what you are, as well as what you are capable of."

Jason opened and closed his mouth before Percy interrupted, "Let me guess? You don't want to leave everything you know, but it's not all that great, either. Everyone likes you, and you fit in great, but there's something off. Something just doesn't feel right. People think you belong, but it's like you feel you don't belong." Percy's eyes locked with Jason's. "Am I close?" Jason nodded a little.

"It's like that for a lot of the powerful ones." Nico said as he leaned back in his chair. "Some can go their whole lives without finding this place. I came here late, but I found the place. Very few of us have the fortune of being given this life. Most of us need to find it."

Gran stood, and the rest followed, but for Chiron, who had been standing throughout the discussion, "Stay for a while before you make your decision, child. I'm sure Perseus – " Percy groaned at the name, " – or young Nico will be more than able to answer your questions and show you what type of life you could lead here. If you choose to leave, you will be back at your grocery store, and this will have been but a dream."

"Percy, if you will be so kind as to show young Jason back to Campus. And you might want to hurry back. If I understanding things properly, Coach Hedge is less than pleased you hared off in order to find our wayward companion, here." Chiron said as he fixed Percy with an amused look.

"Shit." Percy muttered and dashed off, leaving a laughing Chiron and Gran, and a drunkenly merry Dionysus as he sprinted towards the door, once again dragging a flustered pair of youths behind him.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: So, here it be. I'm going to try to keep this to a rough schedule of about one chapter a month. A wee bit more exposition this chapter, compounded with a lovely fight scene. The characters, as they are wont to do, just ran away and I let them do as they pleased. Enjoy, and thank you all, as always, for reading and reviewing :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians, which is in the stewardship of Rick Riordan and Disney.

Warnings: Mild Language, I guess?

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The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy themselves. – Sun Tzu

* * *

"Is Percy in trouble or something?" Jason asked as he ran with Nico to catch up to Percy, who had released and outpaced them once it was clear they were slowing him down.

Nico shrugged, "Technically? No. Realistically? Yes."

Jason's brow furrowed, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Percy said, stopping at a plain wooden door without a handle that had no accompanying wall, "that Coach Hedge – open," Percy paused briefly to glare at the door, "is going to be _pissed_ that I missed any part of practice, even to show a new guy around."

The door swung outwards and Percy dashed through, followed closely by Jason and Nico. The trio didn't have much time left for talk, aside from Percy waving to Rachel's smiling figure as the threesome bolted down the hallway. The pace Percy set left neither breath nor time for conversation, and Nico was begrudgingly impressed that Jason hadn't fallen behind this time. He wasn't sure whether he should admire the blond for taking all of this at face value, or detest him for being irritatingly perfect.

Percy led Nico and Jason out of the building and across the courtyard, towards the fields where Nico knew Coaches Hedge and Hu were holding their practice sessions for the day. Nico groaned inwardly at the thought of showing up with a new kid and his endless questions, especially since he was a Child of the West. Coach Hedge might like some new meat for his team, but Nico doubted that things would go over so well with both sides, especially as the new boy had been scouted.

After several minutes at a dead run, the trio finally made it to the practice area, which was simply a large circle of sand bounded by stone in an otherwise flat grassy field. Coach Hedge glanced over his shoulder as he saw the three boys rush to the edge of the circle.

"Jackson!" Coach Hedge shouted at the top of his lungs, "You're _late_!" The Coach emphasized the last word with a stomp of one of his cloven legs. He scratched the area behind one of his horns the way he always did when he was agitated and prowled over to Percy, probably to shout more.

"You sorry excuse for a demigod! What possible reason could you have had to…" Coach Hedge paused in his tirade as he saw Jason following Nico. "Who the hell are you?" Nico refrained from covering his ears. He hated it when Coach Hedge was in a tizzy, mostly because he was never sure if the Satyr was going to rupture his eardrums.

"I-I'm Jason Grace, sir." Jason said, probably used to Coach Hedge's demeanor from whatever sports team he was a part of back in the normal world.

Coach Hedge narrowed his eyes. Nico took the opportunity to slip out of sight, behind Coach Hedge, so as not to be a recipient of the Coach's ire. Nico noticed, however, that all the spectators, as well as the trainees in the ring, had stopped to watch the spectacle. Including Coach Hu. This wasn't going to end well at all.

Coach Hedge prowled up to Jason, sniffing at the air around the blond. "You…" he muttered as he circled the boy, "You're a demigod, aren't you?" The Coach narrowed his eyes at Jason as he got up in the boy's face.

"If I am, sir, this is the first time I've heard it." Jason's voice was steady, though it seemed to Nico that the blond had to fight in order to keep both his composure and his ground.

"New kid, huh?" Coach Hedge guessed, resuming his prowl.

Whatever the Satyr had to say was interrupted by a smoothly articulated growl coming from the other side of the ring, "If you're quite finished, Hedge, might we get back to practice?"

Hedge whirled around towards the source of the voice, "What was that, Hu?"

Nico turned to see Coach Hu with his paws crossed in front of him, tapping his claws on his stripped arm as his tail flicked lazily behind him, "I'm simply wondering if you wish to continue having my students instruct your pupils in the ways of combat." The tiger looked at the proceedings lazily enough, from his standing position, something Nico still had trouble believing, but he could see the predatory gleam in the Eastern Coach's eyes.

Percy dropped his head into his palms and Nico rolled his eyes. This wasn't going to end at all well. Jason edged over towards Percy and Nico, as the blue eyed demigod had managed to disentangle himself from the Satyr when Hu had provided a distraction.

"Um, should I be worried about the talking goat or the talking tiger?" the blond whispered, leaning into Percy as he did so.

Percy gave Jason a feral grin, "Nah," he whispered back. "They're mostly hot air. You only really have to be worried once you get into the ring."

"So…they're your guys' coaches?" Jason clarified, looking suspiciously at the walking, talking, and arguing animal people.

Nico nodded, "Coach Hedge is responsible for general athletics for Children of the West, Coach Hu is responsible for fundamental physical training for the Children of the East."

"What does that even mean, 'Children of the West'? Why did you call yourself that, back in that Narnia place?" Jason asked, scratching the back of his head while he kept one wary eye on the pair of arguing demi-humans.

Percy frowned, "We're sort of…uh, special, I guess. It means that some part of us is attuned to stuff that most people can't see or hear or feel. That's what a scion is, a blend of the supernatural and the normal. A lot of us 'Children of the West' have western gods for a parent, or are half-breeds of a mythical species from the west. In other words, western scions."

Jason turned a speculative look on the arguing coaches, "So I'm a demigod?"

Nico nodded, "Yes, a lot of the Children of the West are. A few of us are half merling or witches or wizards or half-daemon or stuff like that."

Jason smirked, "So I'm going to be going to school with Harry Potter?"

Percy laughed while Nico just rolled his eyes. "No, not really." Percy elaborated when he calmed down, "Magic is a bit more complicated than most people think. Well, legit magic is. People like us, demigods, usually have powers that look a lot like magic."

Jason opened his mouth to voice another question, but was interrupted by one of the combatants in the ring, "Hey, could we get started up again? We're wasting daylight, here."

"Shut it, Luke," Coach Hedge growled as he backed away from his fellow educator.

The blond who had spoken merely rolled his eyes, rolling his shoulder, causing his painted bronze armor to clank as he stretched his sword arm, his bronze shield leaning against his leg. The armor was intricately forged bronze, though it was divinely crafted and had magic imbued into the metal, making it stronger than most steel. The cuirass was painted read save for the embossed emblem of the caduceus that was left in the natural bronze color. The greaves and armbands that Luke sported were painted in a similar blood red, save the fact that they bore no emblem. Luke plopped his plumed helmet back on his head, a scar on the eye slit matching a scar over his left eye. Luke's opponent merely stood quietly opposite the blond, letting his glossy black pony tail sway in the wind.

He had his eyes closed and held his spear ready at his side as he waited for the coaches to tell them to start their bout again. The spear was a work of art as much as a weapon, though Nico knew from experience that the weapon was still terrifying and deadly in the hands of its owner. The head was elaborately forged steel, beautifully serrated with four blades on the head. It was connected to a steel shaft that was slightly taller than both Luke, who stood at about six feet, and the black haired young man, who was only an inch or two shorter. And bore no armor. Nico had always marveled at the fact that most of the Children of the East preferred fighting in plain clothes, especially those who specialized in hand to hand combat.

As the two coaches backed all the way out of the ring, Luke lunged at the other young man without warning. As Luke's blade neared his throat, however, the other boy moved just barely out of range, without even opening his eyes, before the butt of his spear flew out. Luke barely managed to deflect the spear with his shield, but didn't have enough time to start another attack as the head of the spear was now swinging around towards his chest.

That was when the battle started up again in earnest, the black haired boy opening his eyes to reveal focused hazel orbs. Nico watched as the two combatants danced around the field of battle, the spear wielder holding a scant edge on offense because of the extra range of his spear while Luke played a careful defensive game, biding his time and waiting for a mistake. Nico glanced towards Jason to see the blond newcomer staring at the bout with avid interest. He could tell that Jason was hungry for battle, as most untested Scions were at their age, though he had probably never gotten into a fight more serious than a school yard scuffle.

Nico's attention was drawn back to the fight as Luke let out a grunt of annoyance, and Nico saw that the ponytailed spearman had landed a good thrust on Luke's side, piercing armor and drawing a fair amount of blood. Luke blurred with preternatural speed, and his opponent's eyes widened as Luke appeared almost behind him, slicing the bronze blade across the other boy's back. The black haired boy stumbled forward, but Nico saw that the cut wasn't quite as bad as it should have been, and Nico felt a grudging respect for the Child of the East, who had probably managed to twist away from the strike at the last moment.

The spearman's canted eyes burned with fury, though, amidst the sharp intakes of breath at Luke's violation of the rules. Both Coach Hedge and Coach Hu called to end the bout, but rather than heading their mentors, the two combatants rushed back at one another. However, as Luke pulled back his sword arm, the black haired boy's spear flew forward, seeming to multiply into five, then ten, then twenty more spear points.

Luke had to brace his shield for the impact, and when he the onslaught abated, peaked out from behind his shield to see his opponent gone. Luke, without looking or thinking, positioned his shield above his head just as the spear crashed down. Luke kicked out, sending his opponent flying as he blurred into motion again.

Luke was preparing to charge, and his opponent had taken a ready stance, blue energy arcing off the tip of his spear. The two started towards one another when two long swords snaked out, one tapping Luke's helmet and the other deflecting the spear into the ground.

"Come _on_, guys," Percy said with a wry grin as he held his sword towards each of the combatants. The sword aimed at Luke's throat was a shimmering bronze that emitted a blue aura from its leafed blade. The sword he kept trained on the dark haired combatant was all steal, down to the stylized diamond shaped hilt which had a bronze yin yang symbol at its heart. "I mean, really. It's just a practice bout. We can always wait to beat the crap out of each other until the carnival, right?" Though Percy's tone and stance were easygoing and friendly, both combatants slowly backed away, though neither relaxed.

"Get out of the way, Perce. I'm not finished with the chink yet," Luke growled as he adjusted his shield, displaying the outstretched wings embossed on its surface.

The dark haired boy growled at Percy as well, but in what Nico recognized as Mandarin.

Percy frowned, "If you're going to say stuff like that, Leung, you should do it in English, so he could at least understand what it is you're calling him."

Leung spat on the ground, "He does not bother to learn our language, why should I do him the honor of using the Tongue of the West?"

As Percy turned to address Leung, Luke blurred again, almost looking to pass Percy before a bolt of energy blasted itself into Luke's path, causing the boy to pause. Percy reacted on instinct, sweeping Luke's feet out from under him before thrusting both swords into the ground, forming an X shape over Luke's neck.

When Leung made to lunge towards both Luke and Percy, Nico frowned and thrust his hand forward. A wave of earth rippled towards Leung and cracked like a whip, causing him to stumble. Percy vanished and reappeared in front of Leung, too close for the pony tailed spear man to use his spear effectively. Percy laid his palm against the boy's chest before spinning it while forming a fist, thrusting forward with both his legs and arm. Leung sailed backwards, but not before Percy grabbed the spear from the shocked warrior's hand.

"Sakura, Nico, that's enough!" Percy shouted as Nico turned his attention towards the bow wielding girl who had stalled Luke long enough for Percy to disable him. The girl with the bow was dressed in a traditional Japanese hakama, all white, and had her bow nocked and aimed at Nico, ready to fire at a moment's notice. Nico didn't know when he had called his sword and shield froth from the ground, but they were at his side and ready, the cold unembellished stygian iron a comfort against his burning hot skin.

He stared Sakura down. The girl's glossy black hair almost touched the ground and swayed dramatically in the breeze while Nico met her black eyes with his own dark glare. Nico saw the other Children of the East getting their weapons ready, and Nico knew without looking that his comrades in the Children of the West were doing the same. Daggers and bows were unlimbered and Nico could feel magic turning his hairs up on end as the two sides prepared to duke it out.

Percy let out a roar as he drove his fist into the ground, a huge quake stumbling everyone near the ring. Nico felt himself caught in the chest by a paw, and saw a giant turtle throw him to the ground just as the snake coiled around its belly shot a blast of water at Sakura, throwing her off her feet. The rest of the boys and girls who had made ready for battle and were still standing backed away at the sight of the beast.

"I said," Percy growled out, no longer easygoing, "that that was enough."

"Perseus!" The voice cracked like a whip, and Nico saw Gran emerge from the crowd of still standing Children of the East as he made his feet again. "Dismiss the Guardian Beast immediately!" Percy made no move to follow the order.

Nico felt power at his back and didn't need to look to know that Bacchus was behind him, wine colored toga shimmering in the wind, "Luke," the god said, his voice calm and cold and completely sober, "I thought we'd discussed foul play? Your father will be less than pleased."

Luke growled from his place beneath Percy's crossed swords.

Nico saw Leung lying discontentedly underneath one of the black turtle's paws.

Gran looked at Percy and started talking in Chinese, calmly and soothingly. Percy sighed and reached up, stroking the black turtle as the snake came down and kissed Percy with its forked tongue before the pair glowed and disappeared. Percy's shoulders slumped as the two of them disappeared, his eyes closing for a moment before he righted himself.

He walked over and helped Leung up before grabbing his blades and hoisting Luke to his feet, "You two done?" Percy asked as he eyed the pair warily. The two were glaring at one another, but both nodded, Leung heading over to talk to Sakura while Luke stomped towards Nico and the other Children of the West.

"So…" Jason breathed out as Percy walked towards them. Nico had just about forgotten the blond boy's existence among all the conflict, "That was…intense."

Percy laughed and slapped Jason on the back, "Yeah, it can be that sometimes. I'm occasionally required to break up the clash of egos between those two windbags," he said as he gestured towards Luke and Leung.

Luke snorted, "Really, Percy, everything would have been fine. We were just –"

"Being idiots? You're lucky, Luke, what if Percy had still been showing the new kid around, huh? What would you have done then?" An irate blond girl asked as she stalked up to Luke.

Luke blushed and rubbed the back of his head, "Annie, come on, I was just –"

"Don't you 'Annie' me, Luke Castellan!" the girl said as she stomped her foot down, her grey eyes stormy. Nico had only to glance at Leung to see he was getting the same reaming from Sakura and Coach Hu.

Percy rolled his eyes and winked at Jason and Nico while they tried to hide their grins at Luke's predicament. But the green eyed peace keeper interceded, "That's enough, Annabeth," he said, addressing the blond girl, "Luke's going to get enough of a chewing out as it is. You two should probably get the rest of Children of the West back to their dorms while I show Jason around. It's getting late and I don't think any of us want to miss dinner."

Luke shot Percy a grateful look as Annabeth huffed and grabbed Luke's arm, dragging him towards the heard of sullen Children of the West while she and Coach Hedge barked orders for the others to head towards their cabins and get ready for dinner.

Nico didn't bother to look around for Dionysus, knowing the god had already vanished once it had become clear that the students weren't about to start world war three. But he did follow after Percy as the tall demigod dragged Jason towards the Children of the East.

Sakura, Coach Hu and Leung were having a heated discussion in Chinese that Percy quickly interrupted. Nico couldn't follow the conversation, but it ended with an irate tiger, a still simmering Japanese girl and a sullen Chinese warrior.

"Now that that's out of the way," Percy said, "I'd like to introduce you to the newcomer, Jason Grace. Jason, these are Li Xiao Leung," Percy pointed to the warrior with the pony tail, who gave the blond a respectful bow, "Yatsukawa Sakura," Percy said, indicating the Japanese maiden, who folded her hands in front of her waist before bowing as well, "and Coach Hu, who we already told you about." Coach Hu didn't move to bow, only staring and Jason and Nico through narrowed eyes.

"Thank you for breaking up that foolishness earlier, Xuan Wu," Leung said to Percy.

Jason's brow furrowed, "Xuan Wu?"

Sakura smiled while Leung glared at the blond, "It is Perseus's Chinese name," the girl explained. "He also has a Japanese name, Genbu. He takes his name from the beast he summoned, the Black Warrior the North."

Jason looked confused, "That black turtle thing was a warrior?"

Leung looked about ready to combust while Coach Hu's glare had become increasingly uncomfortable for both Nico and Jason. "Why don't I explain that to you while I show you around, Jason," Percy laughed, "I think Sakura and the others are probably wanting to get back to their own lodge to get ready for dinner, right?"

"Ever the peacekeeper, Perseus," Sakura said with a wink as Leung and Coach Hu gave Percy a nod and walked off.

Once they were quite a ways out of earshot, which meant that even Coach Hu's enhanced hearing couldn't pick them up, Percy let out a long sigh, sliding onto the grass as he looked up at the sky and the falling sun.

"So…anyone going to tell me what all that craziness was?" Jason asked with a smile as he sat down next to Percy, tousling the other boy's hair.

Nico fought a surge of jealousy as he sat down next to Percy as well, crossing his arms and glaring at Jason, who simply smirked back. Percy, oblivious to the exchange, answered, "Luke and Leung got into it, again. There's a bit of a history between the two of them. They're not exactly the best of friends, as you might have noticed."

Jason nodded his head, "It seemed like things were a bit more complicated than that, though…"

Nico nodded, "The Children of the East and West haven't been getting along very well, recently. Things have been getting sort of…tense, lately. It has to do with everything from history to current events. The East and West have never really had the most stable of relationships, even when they were working together."

"So Leung and Sakura and the others were Children of the East? But, why would they let Percy break up the fight and stuff, if he's a Child of the West?" Jason asked, looking down at Percy.

Percy smiled wryly up at Jason, "It's the coin. The one I have is Eastern. It's a symbol of the Queen Mother of the West, one of the most powerful goddesses of the East. Yours is a symbol of Zeus. But mine meant that I had to train with the Children of the East ever since I first set foot here, despite the fact I was a Child of Poseidon. It was kind of weird at first, but everyone got over themselves after a while. Well, they got over me. I do everything with them that I do with the Children of the West, classes, bouts, mock battles, the works. But, they still don't' quite like the other Children of the West."

Nico rolled his eyes, "That's an understatement. The last time Sakura and I were in a match together, she tried to have one of her zombies rip my head off."

Jason winced, "Zombies?"

Nico shrugged, "Well, I was sort of having a skeleton try to run her through, so I guess it was all fair and stuff, but yeah. She does zombies as well as other mystical crap. I'm a Son of Hades, though, so I get cool creepy death powers." Nico said with a smirk as he waggled his fingers in a suitably magicy fashion.

Percy laughed while Jason smiled, "So where'd everyone go, then? Dinner?"

Percy leapt up from the ground onto his feet, "That reminds me, we need to get your tour finished! And, if we want to get to dinner on time, it'll have to be quick. So, sorry Neeks, but I'll finish showing Jase around. Meet me at Cornucopia Hall when we're done?"

Nico frowned as Percy picked Jason up bridal style, which the blond started protesting, before the pair of them vanished, not even giving Nico a chance to respond. The Son of Hades let out a long sigh before shadow traveling to his own private room to get ready for dinner.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN**: Hello everyone, it's the end of the month (and for some of you the start of the new month) and so here comes my newest chapter...all eleven thousand words of it. This was a sight larger than my last two chapters, and, in point of fact, is about as large as the two of them put together, so your wait wasn't in vain. Yes, I know this chapter features that horrendous Jason in the driver's seat, but we'll be getting back to our beloved Child of Hades soon enough, promise. This chapter is a bit dense, to warn you all, but I hope I put enough interesting little tidbits in there to make it interesting none the less.  
**Warnings**: Language. Implied Heterosexual Relations. Douchebaggery.  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or Od Magic. The rest, though? That's mine.

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Wisdom Begins in Wonder – Socrates

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Jason clung with wide eyed fervor to Percy as the green eyed young man jumped through the air from tree top to tree top, barely causing the branches to stir and moving at a preternatural pace over the foliage. They were skimming along the tops of the trees that lined the edge of the central complex of buildings and what looked to be dormitories and various other compounds beyond.

The central complex, which included the imposing stone castle that Jason had seen earlier, was made up of various buildings, some tiered pagodas and red tiled palaces, others imposing stone edifices. Some buildings even sported the modern look, made of mostly cut glass and sharp angles. Despite the fact that he was covering a rather staggering amount of ground, Percy didn't seem to be any worse for their pace, and showed no signs of fatigue from either his current sojourn around campus or his earlier fight.

"Wh-what is it you're doing, exactly, to move this fast? Is it magic?" Jason asked as he took in the landscape around him. The campus was beautiful, the blond had to admit. Now that he wasn't just focused on impending doom, he saw that the entire campus was ringed by a mountain range, though he could see cropland moving out towards the setting sun, and several lakes from his vantage point on the treetops.

Percy frowned, "This? I suppose some of the westerners think of it as magic. It's just Qi techniques." The raven haired boy pronounced the word "Qi" with an odd inflection.

"Qi techniques?" Jason asked.

"Qi roughly translates to breath. The Greco-Romans would refer to it as Animus, the Polynesians Mana. It's, essentially, power. Some people have a lot, some people don't have all that much. A lot of Children of the East use it to power techniques like the ones Leung was using in the ring."

Jason frowned, "Was Luke doing the same thing? It, I dunno, felt different, somehow." Jason blushed slightly, hoping that wasn't a stupid question and he wasn't making a fool of himself. He wanted Percy to like him, though if Nico was any indication, Percy didn't bat for the same team that Jason was on.

Percy smiled at the blond, and Jason felt his pulse speed up slightly in response, "You have a good eye," Percy said. "It's no wonder she gave you that coin. No, you're right, Luke was using his father's gifts. As a Son of Hermes, Luke has a natural gift for speed. Oh, he's also a great thief and mischief maker, too, so be careful if he tries to drag you into anything," Percy said with a wink.

Jason laughed as Percy came to a stop, perfectly balanced at the top of a single tree that overlooked a complex of eastern looking building. Covered walkways meandered around and between the structures, sometimes arching over tiny streams and settling into little pagodas by lakes that were flawlessly integrated into the complex. Both the waterways and covered paths connected and winded their way between everything from pagodas to large halls to an open air market that had a road leading to a circle of what looked to be homes and apartments. The homes and market were surrounded by a low red brick wall with a gray tile roof, and Jason could make out healthy groups of people moving about the market, even in the receding daylight.

"This is what most people refer to as the Eastern Quarter. It hosts the Ancestral Temple, as well as a Buddhist Pagoda and Taoist Shrine. Most of the Children of the East, as well as some of the teachers and professors, live in this area. The rice farms, and stuff, are just a little farther out, beyond the residential wall." Percy gestured with his head towards the expanse of watery fields, unable to point, as he was still carrying Jason.

One person from the market square spotted them and waved at Percy, who shouted back to them in what sounded like Chinese. Someone tossed something from the square, and Jason was amazed to see it fly all the way towards them with perfect aim. Jason caught it for Percy, pleased that football had come in handy yet again, though wondering if the person who had sent them the, Jason paused to sniff the confection in his hand, BBQ pork bun had meant for Percy to drop him.

Percy laughed and called out to the people in the market again before jetting off. Jason frowned as they came up to another visibly settled area. While the Eastern Quarter had obvious architectural influences from all over Asia, it was still fairly homogenous compared to this place. Rather than elegantly curving covered walkways and ponds and streams and gardens, this area seemed to be a hodgepodge of random historical buildings.

Jason could see what looked to be a South American Step Pyramid, complete with sacrificial alter, though he hoped the red stains on the top were something from something more benign than blood from human sacrifices. But across the courtyard from the pyramid was a Northern Native American Totem Pole, with a red bird figure at the top, followed by a wolf and a bear. The courtyard itself was lined by everything from Buffalo skin tents, to mud brick homes, to what looked like shops and markets. Jason could swear one of the stables had camels in it.

One of the other sides of the courtyard hosted a beautiful tiered stone building with waterfalls flowing over the sides and lush plant life clinging to the surface. Exactly opposite the giant garden building was what looked to be a giant brown ice cream cone. It was one solid construction, and Jason couldn't see the seams between bricks or stone.

"What is this place?" Jason asked in awe as Percy leapt off of the treetops and landed lightly in the center of the courtyard.

Percy grabbed the pork bun from Jason and started to talk between bites, "Welcome to the Mixed Quarter, home to everyone who gets caught between the East and the West." He said with a smile. He pointed off past the courtyard and the homes lining it towards a lake that looked like it fed into the hanging gardens and some of the waterways and smaller lakes by the Eastern Quarter. As Jason squinted, he could also make out another river flowing further away, though as he was no longer up high, he couldn't see where it led. "That lake is where I live. I'll show it to you later, after we grab a bite to eat."

As Percy spoke, several of the people going about their business came up to greet the two newcomers. Most of them were talking in languages that Jason couldn't understand, but one chose to speak in English.

"Who is the one with the glittery hair?" A tanned woman of Native American origins asked. She had a longbow over her shoulder, and was wearing what looked like a deerskin tunic as well as soft leather shoes. Jason resisted the urge to reach up and inspect his short hair. Yes, he was blond, but glittery?

"Jason, I'd like you to meet Arrow Song, the representative of the Mixed Quarter." Percy said with a smile.

Jason smiled and extended his hand, but Arrow Song didn't take it. Several of the people who had greeted Percy were looking at Jason in a way that made him shift his weight from foot to foot. He knew those looks. A lot of the fights between his team and the team of another school had started right after they gave him those looks.

"He is a Westerner. You know he cannot be here, Perseus." Arrow Song said, crossing her arms.

Percy just rolled his eyes and smiled, "Come on, Arry, it's not that big of a deal. He's new! I'm showing him around, just give us a sec and we'll be out of your hair in no time."

Arrow Song huffed at Percy's nickname for her, but didn't otherwise comment, "We heard of the commotion that your," Arrow Song paused momentarily, "compatriots in both other Camps caused, as they are wont to do."

Jason arched an eyebrow, "Want to do…what exactly?"

Arrow Song frowned at Jason as Percy snorted a laugh, something Jason shouldn't have found all that attractive, but which still managed to make his middle warm pleasantly.

"Wont," Percy said as he licked his fingers, "from the Old English gewunod and the Middle English wone, you know, habit, custom, that sort of thing. 'As they are accustomed to doing', basically."

Arrow Song shook her head, "One would think that the pale face would know his own language better than this. The fact that Perseus, of all people, would be required to instruct another, or how he would be capable of such, is beyond me."

Percy just smiled and pursed his lips, making a kissing noise, "I love you, too, Arry!" Jason, however, huffed out a breath and didn't otherwise rise to the bait. It was clear that Arrow Song, like Xiao Leung and Sakura and some of the others, didn't really approve of children of the west. And since Jason looked about as Caucasian as it could get, he figured they wouldn't approve of him all that much.

Arrow Song then turned away from Jason, giving the blond the distinct impression that she had already forgotten him, "I anticipate seeing you in the sweat lodge after you have finished your evening meal."

Percy gave her a playful salute, "Yes, sir!"

Some of the others laughed, and the tension started to seep out of the air. Percy then took Jason around the courtyard, showing him the sacrificial pyramid and ball court (where Percy promised that they only sacrificed goats now days), the sweat lodge, the hearth fire, the Library (it turned out giant upside down ice cream cones made great spiral libraries), and the Mini-Hanging Gardens.

"A lot of the best fruits and vegetables come from that garden," Percy said as he laced his fingers behind his head. "But be careful if you decide to sneak in for a bite, though; the gardener's one vicious dude."

Jason laughed, but it was cut short as Nico stepped out of the shadows and gave the pair of them a glare, "What in Hades's name is taking so long? If you don't hurry up, all the good stuff is going to close."

Percy waved off the complaint with a smile, "Jeez, Neeks, no need to get so worked up. I just finished showing him the Mixed Quarter, we've already shot by the Eastern Quarter, and we're on our way to the Western Quarter now. Don't get your panties in a twist."

Nico's eyes narrowed further, but one the corners of his mouth twitched upwards, "I don't wear panties!"

Percy ruffled his friend's hair, "Whatever you say, Nico," he said with a wink.

Nico huffed out a laugh, "You're impossible! Just hurry up. I'll be waiting for you in the Agora." And, without another word, or even acknowledging Jason's existence, Nico moved into the shadows and disappeared.

Jason just stood still for a moment, "I'm going to have to get used to weird shit like that, aren't I?"

Percy grinned, "Well, only really with a couple of us. Nico and Luke are the heavy hitters for the Children of the West, and they're the only ones who can use their divine abilities like that. Nobody else can just shadow travel whenever they want wherever they want like Nico can. And Luke is just an all-around bad ass. Same applies to Xiao Leung and Sakura. They're pretty much the boss men of the Children of the East. I'd actually recommend you stay away from them." Percy's face hardened at the last as he picked up Jason and jumped back towards the tree line.

Jason frowned, "Why would you want me to stay away from them?"

Percy's brow furrowed and he bit his lip, "Look, Jason, you're powerful, I can tell. You're going to cause some big ripples, if you're not careful. Things have been pretty balanced around here, with Nico and Luke on one side, Sakura and Xiao Hu on the other. Arry and I and some of the others try to keep things calm, but we can only really manage because there's a balance of power between the East and the West."

Jason shook his head, "What does that have to do with me?"

Percy sighed as he stopped moving, looking out at the horizon, "Because, Jason, you could tip that scale. You were recruited, the first one since me. You're already a good athlete, and once you get some training, people are probably going to start looking to you to take part in the stupid political shit that everyone here is a part of. People are worried about what you're going to do and how things are going to change now that you're here. Some people are _really _worried. Don't be surprised if you get more than one person sucking up to you. And be very careful with what you say. You don't want to end up a part of someone's political campaign, believe me."

Jason was about to comment, but was cut off when Percy started moving again. Jason wasn't really sure what Percy meant. He was new. He was so green he was pissing grass, as some of his coaches would put it. How could he make any difference at all here? And that was if he decided to stay. While Jason certainly felt more at home here than he did in his own home, he wasn't sure, yet, if he would be staying on a more permanent basis. He had his mother to consider, after all. If he left, who would take care of her? She could barely look after herself, and that was on good days. He couldn't just abandon her.

Percy seemed to sense Jason's angst, however, and jostled the blond in his arms, "Sorry to get all serious on you like that. Hopefully this'll take the heavy stuff off your mind." Percy had just jumped up to balance on the top of a tree just tall enough to overlook a walled promenade, and Jason gasped at the sight. The entire hill was walled off with thick stone walls, the only entrances being gates that seemed to be pulled into the walls themselves as opposed to swinging out or in. Jason could see a huge market square, like he had in both of the other Quarters, but this one was floored with marble instead of stone, and Jason could make out the vendors hawking their wares from the tree.

Four roads split the open air market into quarters, each path leading to a different part of the hill. On the tallest part, there stood a large monument that seemed to be trying to make some sort of compromise. The entrance to the building was lined with marble columns and benches, with a fountain at the center. A bunch of people were sitting on benches, talking, or standing and listening to a person who was standing at a podium at the entrance to the building, which was up on a raised marble dais surrounded by stairs. The building itself was made of marble as well, but it was a long oval of a building, reaching back until it hit the walls protecting the hill itself. Jason could see smoke billowing up from several smoke holes in the rounded roof.

Opposite the strange marble edifice was a circle of stones that reminded Jason of the pictures he had seen of Stonehenge, but in its original and complete form. The stone circle was located on another mini prominence, and several of the large stones that surrounded the monolithic pillars were aglow with a deep and vibrant blue. Jason could see people kneeling next to the stones, praying, or up in the stone circle itself, sitting and meditating.

The side of the hill opposite the front entrance was all housing, and they came in all different shapes and sizes. Some were circular stone buildings with thatched roofs, and others were arched constructs of wood, and many of them were tall white buildings with red tile and an empty center, which hosted a small garden or a fountain or both. There was another gate that led outside the housing area, which was surrounded by a smaller wall, in which Jason could see a dozen summer camp style cabins, each distinctly and colorfully decorated. Fountains lined the roads, as did street lamps and gardens, and Jason felt a feeling of peace as he looked out on the scenery.

"This is…it's…I just…" Jason shook his head.

Percy smirked, saying nothing as he leapt from the tree and landed lightly in front of the gates. Jason walked with the green eyed demigod in silence, soaking in the hustle and the bustle of the small town. There were people wearing everything from soft linen tunics to short cut silk togas to tee shirts and jeans. Jason did a double take to make sure he had seen correctly when one girl walked past him wearing nothing but blue paint.

"This can't be real." Jason whispered as they headed towards the open air market.

"It's real, alright. The West may seem, on casual inspection, a bit more homogenous now days, but it is still jam packed with diverse and brilliant cultures." A voice behind Jason said. Startled, Jason turned around to be met with a grinning grey eyed blonde girl, the one who had been chewing out Luke earlier.

"Annabeth, right?" Jason asked, hoping he was getting her name right.

The girl nodded and smiled, "I'm pleased to see you remember me. I'm guessing Percy just finished giving you the abridged tour of our lovely home?"

Jason smiled and nodded, "Yeah, we were just at the Mixed Quarter when Nico, uh, shadow traveled, I think it was called, and told us we were about to be late for dinner."

Annabeth rolled her eyes as she started walking, guiding Jason towards the center of the open air market, "The Agora never closes, though some of the better food and ingredient stalls do take a break for the night. I can't say anything about the Market over in the Eastern Quarter, or the Courtyard in the Mixed Quarter, but most anything you'll find here is free. You can either cook for yourself or simply grab whatever you'd like to eat. They have everything from peacock tongues to haggis, from filet mignon to a Double Double."

Jason arched his eyebrow at Annabeth, "You guys have an In-and-Out here? Seriously?"

Percy smirked as he took Jason's shoulders and pointed him towards one particularly large stall in particular, which was serving burgers with a very distinctive sign overhead, the cooks visible as they grilled burgers and chopped up potatoes for fries, "No lie. There it is."

Annabeth smiled knowingly at Percy as Jason bolted towards the stand without a second thought, ordering a Double Double to go. "Dude," Jason exclaimed as he jogged back towards them, carry out bag in hand, "how can there be no line?"

"It's the Agora," Nico said, popping up from the shadows and giving Jason a one over. "You can get pretty much anything here instantly. And it's all fresh all the time."

"Why do you just keep popping up like that? Do you ever walk, you know, like a normal person?" Jason asked as he met Nico's unflinching gaze. He didn't want to get into it with the moody emo kid on his first day, but it was obvious, to him at least, that Nico was having serious jealousy issues. So what if Percy had shown him around? So what if Percy had been holding Jason rather comfortably to the other boy's broad and muscular chest? So what if Jason had enjoyed every second of it? It wasn't like they were dating…yet.

Nico growled and his hand moved down towards the hilt of his blade before a hand shot out, quick as a viper, and grabbed his wrist, "Now now, Nico, you know the rules. No naked weapons in the Dun." Luke said as he pulled Nico's wrist back.

"Let go of me, Castellan," the dark haired boy said, growling the words from between clenched teeth.

"Dude, Nico, come on. He's new. Let him have a couple moments of ignorance, alright?" Luke said, not yet letting go of Nico's wrist.

"Besides," Annabeth cut in, "it's not like _Percy's_ shown him the grand tour. We still get a chance to show him around town, don't we?" She met Nico's gaze for a heavy moment before the young boy turned away.

Nico turned to glare at Jason a moment more before grunting his assent and relaxing, Luke finally letting go of his wrist. The moody boy immediately set off for a building next to the courtyard that sat in front of the giant monument he had seen earlier. The building was rather large, though nowhere near as large as the monument. The arch they walked under had the picture of a horn of plenty, filled with food, and Jason saw dozens of people eating at a variety of tables and benches. Some tables were elegantly crafted from marble, while others were large and sturdy wooden constructs. There was even a standard high school cafeteria table.

Percy shrugged as they walked over towards a nearby empty marble table, "Yeah, you guys are more than welcome to show him around the Western Quarter, I only really showed him the Mixed Quarter. We sort of just had a 'look and don't touch' thing with the Eastern Quarter."

"Yeah," Jason said as they sat down around a marble coffee table surrounded by marble benches, pulling out his Double Double. He paused for a moment to take in the delicious odor of beef. He hadn't had actual good food in so long. "Yeah," he started again, "why didn't you take me to actually see the Eastern Quarter?" Jason stuffed the burger into his mouth right after asking the question, no longer able to resist the siren call of the beef and cheese and Thousand Island dressing.

Jason nearly choked, however, when the response came from behind him, "It was only right that Lord Perseus not subject you to that den of thieves and liars."

Percy groaned, "I thought I asked you not to call me that, Octavian. Or to talk about them that way."

Jason turned to see a gangly blond inclining his head towards Percy. Jason wasn't quite sure what it was, but something about the other boy felt dangerous. Jason wasn't sure what it could be, though. The boy's arms were thin, his fingers looked freshly manicured, and no part of his body indicated any sign of hard work to either Jason's eyes or instincts, both of which he trusted. But then Octavian opened his mouth, "It is, of course, your right to decline the use of your title, Lord Perseus, but as Champion of the Grand Carnival, I still think it right and proper that we should honor you, in as much as you would allow."

Jason could see that Percy was fighting not to scream in frustration. Eventually, however, he managed to get himself under control and flash Octavian a hundred megawatt smile before saying, "Thanks, Octavian. I appreciate it. I'll catch you guys in a bit, I'm just going to go and grab some stuff from my mom's stall." He said as he got up to go.

"Don't go ruining your appetite by only eating candy now, you hear! You have to have your veggies and your meats, too. You're still a growing boy!" Luke called out, a smirk on his face. Percy didn't pause, simply turning around and jogging backwards as he gave Luke the finger before disappearing into the crowd.

Everyone, except for Octavian, laughed. However, the laughter died quickly as Octavian seated himself in the spot Percy had just vacated. Annabeth was alternating between eyeing Ocavian warily and trading significant looks with Luke, who looked extremely uncomfortable at the fourth blond's presence. Nico looked moody, angsty, and ready to bite someone's head off. Jason couldn't see that big of a difference from how he acted most of the time.

"It would be my pleasure to introduce myself to you," Octavian said, directing his comment to Jason. "My name is Octavian Lesbius. I serve as one of the members on the Council of Sages, along with my," Octavian smiled a bit too brightly, "esteemed colleague, here, Annabeth Chase." Octavian's too sweet voice grated against Jason's ears. Jason swallowed hard, feeling like the bite was too big for him now.

"Octavian," Annabeth interrupted when it looked like the Councilor would continue, "Jason has only just arrived and is likely famished and exhausted from his ordeals earlier in the day, I –"

"Yes, I heard about that," Octavian interrupted smoothly. Annabeth looked like she was fighting for control as her hand stretched towards a dagger on her hip that Jason hadn't noticed before, "It was quite fortunate for those heathens that Lord Perseus was there in order to ensure we did not decimate the Eastern Forces."

Luke grumbled under his breath, "We all know that we're evenly matched, Octavian. It would be slaughter on both sides, especially without Percy or the other Mixers there to break things up and keep the peace."

Octavian turned his nose up at Luke's assessment of their chances, "While the opinion of the head of the Warrior's Moot is to be valued, some in the Council have different opinions about our chances, especially now that our ranks have been bolstered by a new Coin Bearer." Octavian smiled warmly at Jason, who quickly filled his mouth with another bite of burger. Percy had warned him not to say anything stupid, and he couldn't do that if his mouth was full. His mama, when she had still been a lucid and relatively sane woman, had taught him never to speak with his mouth open, after all.

Octavian gave Jason a warm smile, as if he thought the tactic was cute, and used the opportunity to press forward, "Now that we have a new, and likely powerful, scion, we can begin to push back against the encroachment of the Easterners."

Annabeth stood, her grey eyes stormy, "You and Reyna are fools if you think we could actually get away with provoking the Children of the East without the Children of the Four Quarters, and, hell, Percy intervening."

Octavian stood as well, cracks appearing in his neigh perfect mask, "We have never had any need to fear those stinking barbarians in the Mixed Quarter. They are only allowed a place at this esteemed place of learning because the gods are merciful and gracious, and believe, in their infinite mercy, that all humanity should be represented here. And as for Lord Perseus, he will soon see that his place is here, where it has always been, not slumming with those stinking _mongrels,_ or training with those unnatural heathens from the East. We finally have the upper hand, and now we shall –"

"Octavian," Nico growled. The earth beneath the Councilor's feet rumbled, as if it were preparing to yawn open and swallow the blond whole, "I'm hungry, and you're interrupting our dinner. You should leave now, before the big boys get angry and decide they don't want to play nice. We wouldn't want you to break a nail, now."

Octavian stood firm, matching Nico's glare, his tone no longer polite and his face no longer schooled to a calm and polite mask, "I will _not_ be bullied by the upstart Son of Hades simply because he has more power than some of the rest of us. I am a _Councilor. _A **guide** for our people. You're just a soldier! How _dare _you –!"

"Octavian!" Annabeth snapped as she looked around. Silence reigned as dozens of pairs of eyes and ears were trained on the group. "Perhaps it would be best if we were to use our indoor voices, hm? We wouldn't want to make a scene."

Octavian's eyes narrowed at Nico, who just grinned back. And just like that, Octavian was once again smiling warmly, his voice coming out silky smooth and horribly apologetic, "You must forgive me for this…most unseemly display, Councilor Chase. I look forward towards seeing you on the morrow, for the Council meeting." He gave Annabeth a nod of his head before turning to Jason, "It was a pleasure speaking with you, Jason, and I do hope we get to know one another better in the future." With that, and one brief venomous glare at Nico, he turned on his heel and walked towards the exit.

With Octavian's departure, the clamor slowly started to build up again, "So," Jason finally asked, having swallowed another bite of burger, "anyone want to tell me what all the melodrama was about?"

Luke rolled his eyes, "That's one way to put it. Octavian's sort of…" Luke trailed off as he tried to find the right word.

"A bitch?" Nico supplied venomously.

"Nico," Annabeth gently rebuked.

"Aint my fault it's true," Nico said as he rolled his eyes before placing his palm on the table and summoning a stone box. Nico opened the box to reveal a fully meal of pasta slathered in a creamy pink sauce and had a generous portion of sliced sausages mixed in, a fresh piece of garlic bread sitting in the compartment just above the cuttlery.

"Really, Nico? Still getting boxed meals from your dad?" Luke said teasingly as he leaned over and nudged the smaller boy with his shoulder.

Nico frowned and picked up the knife, something Jason hadn't been sure was necessary in a box of pasta, between two fingers and flung it at Luke. Luke simply laughed as he caught the knife, sticking it in the table next to Nico's dinner as the young boy stuffed a forkful of rolled spaghetti into his mouth.

"Children," Annabeth chided, rolling her eyes, "you need to remember to play nice with one another. And to answer your question, Jason, Octavian and I are part of one of the governing bodies of the Children of the West, the Council of Sages. There are about fifty or so of us, and we're a body of elected officials. The Warrior's Moot, which Jason and Nico are a part of, is the other ruling body, and is composed of the thirteen strongest warriors in the Dun."

Jason tilted his head, "Dun?" he asked through a mouthful of beef. He swallowed before continuing, "Is that what this place is called?"

Annabeth nodded as Nico and Luke tried to stick one another with cutlery behind her, "Yes. Dun roughly translates to fort in Gaelic. It encompasses the entirety of the Western Quarter, which is what most other people call the place."

Jason nodded, leaning back a little as he digested both information and food. A thought kindled in his mind, "You didn't mention Percy, though, in all of this. Is he a member of the Council or the Moot or whatever?"

At the mention of Percy's place in the moot both Nico and Luke stilled, "Percy's not a member of either." Luke said with a sigh.

Jason's brow furrowed, "Did he not qualify, or something? He seemed pretty strong to me."

Jason nearly jumped out of his skin as a pair of hands covered his eyes, "Guess who?"

"Cut it out Percy!" Jason laughed as he tried to catch the other male. Percy simply laughed as he let go of Jason's face.

"But to answer your question," a new voice cut in, "my son has chosen not to take any position of power in either the Dun or the Forbidden City."

Jason turned around to see a dark haired woman smiling down at him. She stood next to Percy, and Jason could instantly see that they were mother and son. She stood a head and a half shorter than her child, but had the same warm light in her eyes, though they seemed to shift from color to color, almost a rainbow, as opposed to Percy's warm and inviting jade green orbs.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Jason. I'm Sally Jackson. Despite the fact you've only been here a while, you're already the talk of the Dun." The woman said warmly as she extended her hand for Jason to shake.

Jason grasped the woman's hand, surprised to find some strength there. Her hands were still soft and warm, though, and Jason instantly knew where Percy got the disarming and warm personality that made him so lovable.

"Any reason you didn't want to join up with either of them?" Jason asked as he finished shaking Sally's hand.

"Because politics sucks royal di –" Percy glanced askance at his mother who was gazing at him with a level expression, "dinglehoppers. Yes. Politics sucks royal dinglehoppers."

Jason felt himself smile as Sally nodded approvingly while the rest of them laughed.

"Nico!" Sally exclaimed as she examined what the smaller boy was eating, "You should have told me you were getting lunch from your father. I would have made you something."

Nico blushed and swallowed a mouthful of spaghetti, "I-it's fine, Ms. Jackson, really. My dad makes really good pasta."

Sally frowned, "I thought I told you to call me Sally. And, be that as it may, I'm going to have to insist that all of you come by the shop once you've all eaten to have something sweet. You can't go denying yourself the pleasures of life forever, Nico."

Nico's blushed deepened and Jason fought a smile at seeing the smaller boy's discomfort. "Really, Ms. Jackson, I'm fine. I–"

Sally sighed, rolling right over whatever it was Nico was about to say, "Really, Nico, when am I going to see you all nice and settled down with a man of your own? Luke and Annabeth here are finally–"

"Alrighty then! I think my mom and I should get going. Now. I still need to stop by the sweat lodge tonight, and I'm sure you all want to give Jason the grand tour, so just stop by my place after you're all finished up. He can stay there until the whole 'Where am I gonna go?' question is settled."

Nico frowned and glared at the blond, who just smirked back. Well, if he was going to get to stay with Percy, he might put off his decision indefinitely. After all, Jason knew from experience that seduction was nine parts proximity.

"Jason can stay with me, Percy," Nico said, trying to smile despite the fact he was practically hissing the words through clenched teeth as Percy and his mother got up to go.

Annabeth and Luke traded a knowing look, while Sally just looked over the situation with amusement. Percy, as Jason was quickly becoming used to, seemed completely oblivious, "'Sall good, Neeks. I get kind of lonely in that big place by myself, anyway. It'll be nice to have some company."

Jason's grinned widened. Percy lived alone? Not with his mother? Things were looking up and up.

"How about we host Jason?" Luke suddenly butted in right after Nico tossed another knife in his direction, sending Jason's fantasies crashing to the ground. Annabeth was glaring at her apparent boyfriend, despite the look of pleasure that was coursing across Nico's face. Jason idly wondered, given Sally's expression, if she was in fact recording the whole ordeal for her viewing pleasure later. Jason had to admit, it had kind of degraded into a soap opera.

"So, Jason," Percy said, rolling his eyes, "where would you like to stay until you get all of this sorted out? I mean, no offense to Nico or Luke," Percy said with a grin, "but Nico's place isn't exactly welcoming to visitors," Percy turned to arch an eyebrow at Luke, "and I don't think Jason needs to be traumatized by the sounds of you and Annabeth–"

"Not one more word out of you, Perseus Jackson," Annabeth hissed lowly. Percy just grinned and put his hands up in surrender.

Jason laughed, something the blond found he enjoyed and wondered if he should be doing more often, "I guess I'll just stay with you, then, Percy."

Percy smiled, "Sweet. Well, I've got to go, then. I'll see you all later!" And with a wave, Percy jetted back off into the air, landing squarely on the wall before leaping off again in the direction of the Mixed Quarter. Percy's mother bid the group goodbye as well before walking away, encouraging them to stop by her stall before she closed up for the night.

"He does that a lot, huh?" Jason asked after Percy leapt past the wall.

Luke shrugged, "Percy's divine gifts are mostly water oriented, though he does have way more speed and strength than the average mortal. He uses that weird eastern shit for everything else."

Annabeth turned a speculative look on Jason, "Speaking of divine gifts, I think it's time someone here had his divining. We've all already mostly guessed who your divine parent is, but it's tradition that new Scions go to the temple to get divined anyway, even when it's painfully obvious who their parent is."

Jason frowned, "Wait, how do you already know who my divine parent is?"

Luke shrugged and gestured towards Nico, "Nico told us enough about your family situation that we're pretty sure we know who it is."

Jason glared at the shorter boy, "Did he?"

Nico rolled his eyes and gave Jason a grin that was more a bearing of teeth than anything else, "You worry too much. Everyone would have found out eventually. It's not like I told them anything special."

Jason took another bite of his burger, which he was almost finished with, to prevent himself from saying anything stupid. He had seen how expertly Nico had manipulated Octavian into making a fool of himself, and he was loathe to allow the same thing to happen to him.

Nico's grin stretched wider as Jason let the issue drop. He opened his mouth to say something else when Annabeth nudged him I the ribs with her elbow. Hard.

As Nico let out a whoosh of air and doubled over to clutch his abdomen, Annabeth turned a smile on Jason, "I think there's some sort of misunderstanding. Nico only told us that you were missing a father figure in your life. Given the fact that you have the bearing of a 'popular kid'," she paused briefly as she put the word in air quotes, "and look to be fairly athletic, we were able to narrow down the list of potential candidates with help from your, well, your aura, I guess."

Jason paused to polish off his burger before speaking, "How did you know I was one of the popular kids?"

Nico rolled his eyes, "I dunno, maybe it was the fact that you look, talk, and act like the star quarterback of your football team."

Jason leaned back on his arms as he arched an eyebrow at them, "And who says I'm a football jock?"

Luke cut in before Nico could snap a reply, "By the way you were walking, I'd guess you're also a wrestler. And any guy who's on both the football and the wrestling teams and looks like you is, more likely than not, a heartthrob. Hence, popular kid."

Jason rolled his eyes, "Fine, fine. You caught me. I'm the captain of the football and wrestling teams. Happy?"

Nico's grin turned sadistic, "You must love rubbing up against all those hot sweaty buff guys."

Jason's eyes narrowed, "What are you trying to say, Nico?"

Annabeth slapped Nico upside the head, "We didn't really need Nico's help to find out that you were attracted to guys, Jason. Your handling of Nico and Percy sort of made it obvious."

Luke's eyes widened, "Wait, he's gay?"

"Obvious to intelligent people," Annabeth amended, a glowering Nico, who rubbing his head.

Jason turned his gaze away, "I like girls."

Annabeth shrugged, "I never said you didn't. But that doesn't change the fact that you obviously find Percy attractive and, for your own safety, I'd recommend you not get involved with him."

Jason crossed his arms over his chest and met the blonde's gaze levelly, "Assuming you're right and I like Percy, why should I do that? You want to keep him for Nico over there?"

Nico's eyes spat fire and brimstone at Jason, but he remained otherwise calm, though it was obvious that the threat of Annabeth was the only thing damming up his words.

Annabeth shook her head, "No, I'm not. I'm telling you this because getting into a relationship with Percy is dangerous. For anyone. Nico included."

Nico glared at Annabeth, "I can take care of myself, Annabeth."

Annabeth met Nico's heated gaze with calm aplomb, "So could Zoë."

"Okay," Luke interrupted, clapping his hands together, "I think that's enough of Percy's piss poor excuse for a love life. Let's show Luke around, shall we?" And, without waiting for the agreement of either Nico or Annabeth, grabbed Luke's arm and dragged him towards the large marble building. The sun had started to set, and braziers and torches had been lit around the hall. The firelight caused the shadows around the marble edifice to dance. Jason felt a chill run down his spine as he looked up at the building. It seemed so much bigger, now that he was standing before it as opposed to looking at it from a distance.

"This is where the Moot and Council meet. We simply call it the Meeting Hall," Luke explained as he led Jason up the steps. "The courtyard here is called the Forum. People usually use it either as a picnic area or as a place to set up speeches and crap like that." Luke gestured with vague disgust at the podium at the top of the dais that was surrounded by the stairs.

"So I take it you're not the Council's biggest fan?" Luke grinned as they walked up the steps.

Luke rolled his eyes, "The Council's great, in theory, but most of the Councilors are politicians. Popular boys and girls with next to no actual combat experience. Annabeth and a couple others actually work hard to get elected and stay battle ready, but overall, it's kind of sucky."

"Luke's just bitter," Annabeth said as she caught up to them, waving to one of the guards who was standing just outside the entrance. "He doesn't like the fact that the Moot has to share power with another body, and he doesn't like that that body of people makes him, and the Moot, look stupid."

"We aren't stupid!" Nico groused out.

The conversation started to fade out of Jason's awareness as he stepped through the large double doors that the guardsman had opened for them. The inside of the Hall was bright, despite the fact that it looked like the only sources of light were the torches that lined the walls. The torchlight flickered across murals and mosaics, and Jason marveled at the artwork that went into what seemed like every inch of the Hall.

They showed Jason everything in the Hall, with the Council Chambers on one side and the Moot on the other. The Council Chambers were definitely imposing, with its high domed ceiling and the rows of seating for Councilors to meet and debate, for spectators to observe and bring issues forth to the Council.

Jason liked the Moot better, though. It felt cozy, with a lower ceiling but a longer hall, chairs surrounding a table and a ring of sand, much like the practice rink that Luke and Leung had fought in, at the far end of the hall. Weapons and shields were everywhere, though Jason wasn't sure if the ones hanging on the walls were any less dangerous than the ones the ones resting in weapon stands all around the hall.

What followed was a whirlwind tour that Jason wasn't quite sure he could forget if he tried. They dragged him through the rest of the Agora, dropping by Ms. Jackson's shop and all the colorful candies and pastries that lined the stand. They showed him where he could get supplies for school, clothes, weapons and equipment, everything he could need or want. They ushered him through the residential sector, Annabeth and Luke taking him to look at the loft that they shared. Nico showed him the bunker he lived in, complete with skeletal servants and an almost intimidating décor that balanced tasteful use of bones and comfort. What had to be the most intimidating sight, though, was the temple that sat opposite the Meeting Hall.

"It looks like Stonehenge," Jason said in a whisper as they walked into the center.

Annabeth smiled as their little group walked forward, "It was designed to be very similar to the original. It still serves the same calendar purposes of catching the sun's rays correctly during the solstice, and the moon's during the equinox. But more than that, this is…a very powerful place for every Child of the West."

Nico nodded, "This is where all of us, even if we already knew how and why we came into our abilities, were first divined. It's where some of us have learned our past," Nico looked up to meet Jason's eyes, "and where we learn our future." Jason held Nico's gaze for a long time, silence veiling them like a curtain. Luke and Annabeth just held one another and watched. Most everyone else had left, as it was starting to get late into the night.

"That's quite enough of that, boys," a familiar voice called out. Jason and Nico broke off their staring contest to see a red headed girl walk over clad in a plain white robe. The white hood pulled over her head couldn't quite contain the mass of red curls that flowed over her shoulders. The strands of hair almost looked like fire, for a moment, contrasted against the white robe, which seemed to almost glow in the light of the moon.

"You were…the girl at the Chancellor's office," Jason whispered. He felt the need to show deference, to the place if not the girl.

The redhead grinned, "That would be me. Rachel Dare, Oracle and Soothesayer, prognosticator and general annoyance to all who know me. Since it was discovered I have the gift, I've been the one doing the divinings. And I'll be doing yours tonight, Jason."

As she spoke, the bluestones that surrounded the megalith glowed brighter still, until they seemed to compete with the now risen moon in brilliance. The entire temple was bathed in blue and silver light, and Jason shivered at Rachel's eyes, which seemed to shift and change in hue and intensity despite the fact she wasn't moving.

Jason turned around to look for help from Annabeth, Luke, and maybe even Nico, but saw that they had all retreated, without him noticing, to the edge of the smaller stones that marked the outer edge of the temple.

Rachel smiled, "You don't have to be nervous, Jason, this isn't quite like the old days."

Jason twitched as Rachel started to walk towards him, "Old days?"

Rachel shrugged as she guided the tall blond over to the stone alter that stood in the heart of the temple, "You know, the old days. They used to either sacrifice goats, or do the whole sexual ritual thing. Kinda messy, if you ask me."

"Uh," Jason was starting to stammer. He needed to get a grip on himself, "Thanks, but you're really not my type."

Rachel laughed, a sound as clear as bells, "Oh, don't worry, I know who your type is. Though I think you'll have to watch for a dagger in the back from Nico. You're poaching on his territory." Jason blushed and looked away, and Rachel's smile widened, "And besides," she added, "I can tell you from firsthand experience that Percy's a little harder to court than that."

Jason's eyes bulged, "What?"

Rachel's smile deepened at the corners as she pushed Jason down so that he was lying on his back on the stone table, "Worth it though. So worth it."

Jason didn't have time to get another word in before Rachel started chanting. The chanting was almost melodious, and as the volume of her voice increased, others began to join her. Figures in white robes similar to Rachel's stepped from the shadows, all adding their voices, some male some female, to the chorus of chant and song.

The person standing by Jason's feet held a torch, and the one by his head held a branch of some sort. Rachel started walking slowly, methodically, around the altar as she chanted, taking the branch from her companion with almost stately consideration. Jason watched with morbid fascination as she dipped the branch into the flame. The branch caught almost immediately, but rather than the bright red of the torch, it burst into a brilliant and almost iridescent blue.

Jason watched, still entranced, as Rachel walked in slow steady circles, the smoke thickening above the assembly. Jason felt a chill run down his spine, however, as Rachel paused and stepped forward at the head of the altar, reaching out to hold her hands over his stomach. The chanting had reached a crescendo, and Jason felt an almost overpowering urge to run, though he couldn't bring himself to move.

Jason's chills blossomed into full-fledged terror as Rachel touched the still burning branch to Jason's abdomen, which caused the unnatural blue fire to spread. It ate away at his clothes, racing up and down Jason's body, though all Jason could feel from the flame was gentle warmth.

It didn't make the urge to scream any less real, however, as he watched the blue flame lick its way up to his chest and down his legs, burning his clothes away and clinging to skin. Jason was too panicked to notice that the chanting had stopped, the only sound left being the flickering of the blue flame in the wind. Jason watched in horror as it climbed up over his head, growing warmer the more it spread.

However, the moment the fire reached the crown of his head, the blue flames were snuffed out in a bellow of smoke, almost as if someone had doused him in water. The smoke rose, joining with the cloud that had gathered throughout the ritual, and began to swirl over Jason's head. The smoke began to glow, and before Jason could think to shield his eyes, a burst of light and sound emanated from the writhing mass.

When Jason could see again, he noticed that all of the robbed figures but Rachel were down on one knee, bowing to him. Rachel, too, inclined her head. As Jason looked down in befuddlement, he saw that he was wearing a formal pure white toga that was fading at the edges into a sort of cloudy mist. It was wrapped at the waist by a cord that shone with such pure blue and gold it looked like electricity.

"Ave!" Rachel intoned. "Hail to thee, Jason Grace, Son of Jupiter, Son of the Lord of the Sky, Child of the Heavens Most High."

Jason stumbled off the stone alter, Rachel and another person in a white robe helping to make sure he didn't fall flat onto his face. He was a Son of Jupiter? The Roman God of the Heavens? This had to be a joke. This was a joke, right?

Jason was jolted out of his shock by the sound of arguing voices at the edge of the stone circle, "We should just get rid of him! Now! Balance will be restored between the East and the West, and no one's going to throw a fit that the new golden boy is a fucking _Roman_!" Nico's voice caused the shadows cast by the firelight to quiver.

Annabeth's voice was tight with stress and fatigue, "We aren't going to kill a new, and ignorant, scion, Nico. It doesn't matter if he's Roman, or if he's bisexual and has a thing for Percy. I know you've been frustrated with the fact that Percy doesn't really notice you that way, but that's no reason to kill him."

"I'm not saying we kill him," Nico reasoned. "I'm just saying we should encourage him to go back where he came from. And stay there."

"I have to agree with Nico on this one, sweety," Luke's voice was quiet, but firm. "I'd love another strong warrior on the Moot. But a Son of Jupiter? We haven't had a powerful Roman warrior in the Dun for nearly a century. You know Octavian and Reyna are going to be all over this, as well as the other Roman Councilors. They've been itching to get more power, and once the other factions hear about this, they're going to…" Luke trailed off as Rachel coughed politely, guiding Jason towards the trio.

Annabeth had the good graces to look chagrined, and Luke avoided looking Jason in the face. Nico just glared at him before turning around, "I'm tired. I'll see you tomorrow." Nico walked off into the shadow, vanishing after a couple paces.

Jason was trying to chew everything he had just digested, "Am…are…what the hell?" He ended up asking, shaking his head, hardly able to process what was happening.

"Jason," Annabeth said, trying to slow everything down, "I know that conversation was a bit confusing, but you have to understand, things are –"

"Just…" Jason interrupted, letting out a sigh before finishing. "Could I just please head over to Percy's? It was already one o'clock in the morning my time when I got here, and I'm swamped."

Annabeth's polite smile never wavered, and Luke was looking at Jason with the same cold calculating eyes that Jason had seen the blond warrior evaluate Leung with in the practice ring. He was feeling besieged and, frankly, afraid. They had been talking about killing him, getting rid of him. He had known that Nico was the jealous type, but he had never thought that Luke would do anything. He had seemed so nice. For now, Jason just wanted to get away.

"Of course," Annabeth said almost immediately. "I'd be more than happy to take you to Percy's, we just need to go over a few things first."

"That's alright, Annabeth," Rachel said, standing between the couple and Jason. "I'll be happy to take Jason over to Percy's place. I can do it faster, anyhow."

Annabeth's eyebrow twitched slightly before she brought herself under control, "I don't mind, Rachel. We just have a few things we want to talk to him about on the way, isn't that right, sweety?" Annabeth turned her smile on Luke.

Luke nodded, "We'll take him from here, Rachel. No worries." He smiled and reached out for Jason's arm. Jason was exhausted, but still shied away from Luke's approaching hand. However, before Luke could grab him, his hand stopped short, as if it were suddenly stuck in a wall of concrete. Luke was clearly exerting a, potentially literal, herculean effort, but his hand refused to move another inch forward.

"I know quite well what the pair of you wishes to talk to him about. Percy will handle it. Don't worry." Rachel's voice was calm, but hard, like stone wrapped with silk.

"Rachel," Luke's voice came out as a growl, "this is stupid. Just let us take him."

"The Assembly has let you all run around like chickens with your heads cut off long enough, Luke." Rachel's eyes narrowed and Jason felt a surge of power come off of the redheaded girl. Her cloak seemed to glow again, but this time the radiance seemed too bright and painful, as opposed to benign. "It is our duty to safeguard new scions, and in my opinion, as the Oracle, safeguarding Jason is putting him directly into Percy's care."

"Rachel, we're not going to hurt him. We just want to _talk_ with him, for Goddess's sake." Annabeth looked at Rachel pleadingly, but Jason noticed her hand dropped to the dagger at her hip, out of sight of Rachel.

"Do you think to challenge **me**?" Rachel's voice was almost a sonic boom. "You think you can get away with that here? At the heart of the temple? Where the faith of the West is strongest? Those of you who dabble in politics can have your separation of nations, of ethnicities, of cultures, but we of faith, of the Assembly, will brook no such division. Percy will be Jason's steward. This is final." Her speech finished, Rachel waived her hand, causing Annabeth and Luke to vanish. Rachel wavered for a moment before falling to her knees, and the only thing that stopped Jason from catching her was that he felt as if he'd join her in short order.

"Are you alright?" Jason croaked out.

Rachel nodded, "I'm fine. It's just hard to move scions who don't want to be moved."

Jason's brow furrowed, "Where did you send them?" He asked as he slumped down next to Rachel.

Rachel arched an eyebrow at Jason, "Why, I sent them to bed, of course. They're probably not going to be overjoyed that I pulled rank like that, but I can understand why they're so nervous."

Jason frowned and stared at the ground, "What is it about me that had them so worked up."

Rachel was silent for a long moment. When Jason looked over to the redhead, he saw she was staring up at the moon, surrounded by more stars than he had ever seen in his life. Rachel let out a tired sigh, "You'll find out soon enough."

Jason just nodded his head, staring down intently at the ground. This place had seemed so perfect. Annabeth and Luke had seemed nice and friendly, Nico had played a comfortable role for Jason, even if not one he'd liked. But still, this place had made him feel more at home than his own home. He had been dreading the remaining weeks of summer vacation, counting down the days until he was free to go back to school and get away from his mother. The he had stumbled into this realm of myth and magic, each sight captivating him more than the last, and a feeling of absolute and unassailable _right_ permeating the very air around him.

And now, like so many other fantasies before it, this was proving too good to be true. Nico was obviously more than willing to do whatever was necessary to remove Jason. It might no longer only be because Jason was a threat to his relationship with Percy, imagined or not, but Jason knew the threat was real. Simply because the dark guy hadn't stayed behind with the others to bully Rachel didn't mean he wasn't serious. And speaking of bullies, he had never expected either Luke or Annabeth to try and corner him like that. He didn't even know what they had wanted to discuss with him. All he knew was that he was scared.

"I guess I'm willing to accept that," Jason whispered, staring at the beauty of the heavens. He had never quite noticed, but he always felt more at ease when he stared at open sky, and he had never seen a sky more beautiful than the one here.

Rachel nodded and smiled, waving her hand over Jason's head. Jason was struck by a brief sense of vertigo as the world faded to black. However, just as everything faded from view, color rushed back into the world as he found himself on the hardwood floor of a cozy, if spacious, abode. The décor was strange though. Jason was at what looked to be the front entrance to the place, and the sides of the small staircase that led to the door was covered by shoes, one pair obviously belonging to a girl.

Jason was flanked by two stone statues, both looking vaguely dog like, though with curly lion like manes and a fierce disposition, as if daring an unwanted guest to move past them. Jason felt sweat trickle down his spine as he averted his gaze from the statues. It almost felt as if they were watching him. Waiting for him to make a false move so that they could pounce.

As he looked further into the house, he saw what looked like a living room. A large black L shaped leather couch surrounded a lacquer-ware coffee table which Jason couldn't quite get a good look at. He could see that there was an ornate rug beneath both the table and the couch, and that an Xbox and Kinect sat bellow a large television, controllers and games strewn about the floor.

Jason brought himself to his feet, slowly, and started to move further into the house when his bad feeling turned out to be right, and one of the statues turned to _growl_ at him. Jason froze in place, unsure if what he had just seen was real, as the statue had frozen again when he had stopped moving. Jason looked up at the wooden archway that stood right in front of the two stone statues, where he had shown up after Rachel had dumped him here, and saw that it was covered in strips of paper covered in multicolored fluid looking Asian characters. The writing seemed to shimmer and Jason felt his instincts ramp up another couple notches.

However, before whatever horrible surprise the paper had in store for him could turn him into a toad, hit him with lighting, or drop a disco ball on his head, Percy perked up from around the corner and smiled at Jason, "Hey, I was wondering when Rachel would drop you off. She must have been swamped, if she decided to just port you here rather than bringing you the old fashioned way." Percy, now dressed in a comfortable looking one piece Asian robe, took one of Jason's arms and helped him stand up straight, "I'm betting you must be beat, huh?"

Jason smirked, though he had a feeling it was just as wrung out as he felt, "Yeah, that whole 'Look, you're on fire!' thing was sort of exhausting. Plus, it looks like Nico and Annabeth and Luke sort of want me dead." Jason whispered the last.

Percy clapped Jason on the back as he lead the blond through the dining room, "Don't worry about them. They'll come around. They're just in panic mode because they weren't expecting you. The three of them are experienced veterans. Their first instinct when they see something they don't expect is to lop its head off." Percy laughed, which was infectious enough to get Jason to chuckle a little.

"Is that why you invited me to stay at your place?" Jason asked, not sure if he was happy or sad behind the real reason Percy was putting him up.

Percy shrugged, "Yeah, well, I'd hate for the new kid to get his throat cut in his sleep."

Jason arched an eyebrow at Percy, "You're MO isn't to lop of heads when you meet something you're not sure of, either, right?"

Percy laughed, but another voice answered for him, "Hardly. Genbu has always been prudent, even if not entirely patient." Sakura said, from her position on the floor in front of the dining table. Jason and Percy were passing the kitchen and the dining room seemed to be connected to the living room, and Jason saw that Sakura and Leung were seated at Percy's table, which was covered with piles of delicious looking Asian cuisine, as well as Arrow Song and some other guy that Jason didn't know.

"So this is the newest coin bearer, hm?" The man looked ascetic, and was wearing well-tailored black and white robes, a large ying yang symbol embroidered on the front.

Percy rolled his eyes, "Yes, yes, and he's just had his divining, and he's exhausted."

"Not too exhausted for introductions, surely." The stranger smiled. Jason twitched, but unlike the blatant hostility that was communicated by Leung, the predatory cordiality from Sakura, or even the cold indifference that Arrow Song displayed, Jason wasn't sure this person was necessarily hostile.

Percy sighed, "Jason, this is Huang Ping Zi, head of the Temple Orders of the East and member of the Assembly. Ping, this is Jason. You already know everyone else, now, let's get you out of that formal toga shit and into bed."

Jason could feel the eyes of Percy's dinner guests as the green eyed young man escorted him down the hall. After a couple turns that Jason wasn't sure he could remember, he ended up in a dark room with a comfortable looking bed that rested low to the floor.

"Want me to grab you some jammies, or do you sleep in the buff?" Percy asked bluntly, unconcerned with Jason's blush.

"Uh, the buff, actually." Jason mumbled as he extricated himself from Percy and sat down on the bed.

"Alright then, I'll let you get undressed and into bed, then. I'll talk to you more in the morning, promise." Percy said as he moved towards the door.

"Wait!" Jason jolted up from the bed. Percy just turned around and arched a curious eyebrow. "Um, I don't know how to get this off. I've never really worn cloud before," Jason giggled nervously. "Would you mind helping me get it off?"

Percy's other eyebrow joined its compatriot near his hairline, but Percy ended up shrugging and saying, "Sure, why not. Here." Pery reached towards Jason, gripping the electric sash that was belted around his waist. His brows furrowed for a minute, and then the whole outfit started to drift off of Jason's body, gaining speed as Percy turned his palm upward. It started to coalesce into a rotating ball, wrapped with a band of pure blue-yellow energy, which Percy left on the night stand.

Jason, too tired to even really understand the fact that he was naked in Percy's presence, simply dropped back onto the bed, "Thanks," he muttered as he pulled the covers over himself. It felt like he was sleeping on a cloud of silk. Percy smiled and walked back out the door, letting Jason drift into a dream filled with warm green eyes, tan skin, and a ready smile.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Sorry this one is a bit late. I was trying to post it on the 31st, but sadly, t'was a loss. This month has been sort of hectic for me, but I'm glad I managed to get this chapter out anyway, though it's certainly short compared to what I was going for. I'll do my best to make up for it later, and I promise I'll have more from Nico's perspective. All that being said, enjoy! As well as a belated Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, Blessed Solstice, Happy New Year, and Joyous Any-Other-Holiday-I-May-Have-Forgotten!

Disclaimer: I own nothing that belongs to Disney and/or Rick Riordan.

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The truth is balance. However, the opposite of truth, which is unbalance, may not be a lie. – Susan Sontag.

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Nico's dream of tan skin, broad shoulders, solid muscles, and warm lips faded as he felt something real and warm and very definitely hard poking into his back. Nico grumbled and turned to see what it was, still wishing he was back in his dream. He was met with a smiling face, though the face was covered in a frock of brown hair, as opposed to raven, and sported dull blue eyes as opposed to warm green.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," the brunette said, smiling as he leaned into Nico for a kiss.

Nico moved his face so the kiss landed on his nose, "Morning, Travis."

Travis sighed as he snuggled closer to Nico, rubbing their groins together, "Up for some morning time fun?"

Nico chuckled wryly as he hopped out of bed, shivering as his feet hit the cold tiled floor, "Sorry, I'm already late for breakfast at Percy's."

Travis sighed as he rolled the sheets around him, "So the spare gets dropped for the real deal, huh?"

Nico frowned and turned to give Travis a sympathetic look as he pulled his pants on, "You knew what you were getting into."

Travis huffed, sounding more tired than irate, "I knew when we started this whole thing, what? Two years ago?"

Nico shrugged, not willing to look Travis in the eye. He pulled his shirt on as Travis heaved another, longer sigh, and got up himself, wrapping his arms around Nico.

"Stay? Please? I might not cook as well as Percy, but I make some mean waffles." Travis whispered into Nico's ear.

Nico turned and pulled Travis's face down, giving the Son of Hermes a kiss on the forehead, "I'll see you later," he said before walking backwards towards a dark corner, forcing himself to look at Travis's depressed expression before shadow traveling to his underground home.

Nico let the shadows wrap around him, pulling him into their embrace. He felt the familiar cold tingle go up his spine before the shadows gently set his feet down in his home, a couple affectionate tendrils lingering on his clothes. He stripped the clothing he had just put on, wanting a warm shower before he headed over to Percy's for breakfast.

Nico tossed his clothes at a skeletal servant, who couldn't move fast enough to catch them. Nico ignored the skeleton as it bent over to pick up his clothes, moving towards the bathroom. The bathroom was covered all marble and inlaid silver, with bones tastefully applied here and there. The handles to the sink, shower, and toilet, for instance, were all bone.

Nico started to run the water so that it would have time to warm up and picked up his bone and boar bristle tooth brush, automatically going through his morning ablutions, not wanting to think about the sad blue eyes of the friend he had left at the apartments.

He failed.

His relationship with Travis had always been one of friendship, and a couple years ago, they had both tumbled into bed together after a particularly fun night of carousing and a little bit of bloodletting. But Nico, and his traitorous body, had called for Percy even while he had been with Travis. Travis hadn't minded, but after all of this time, Nico supposed it was natural for Travis to think something was developing between the two of them.

Nico tossed his toothbrush back into the cup, gargling with some mouthwash before heading into the now warm shower. He rested his head against the wall as he let the warm water run down his back, easing the muscles that were sore from practice and other activities. He liked Travis, if he was being honest with himself, something Nico made it a point of doing as often as possible. The problem simply was, since he was being honest with himself, he didn't like Travis enough. Travis was kind, and warm, and friendly, and comfortable, but that was it. He didn't _love_ Travis the way he had come to love Percy over the years.

Nico let out a growl of frustration. Why couldn't Percy see Nico the way he had seen Zoë? Why did he have to hurt Travis? Why did that blond bastard, Jason, have to show up? Why? What had he done to so offend the gods that they had decided to curse his life like this? That bitch Aphrodite. She had a hand in this, Nico was sure. He let out a brief prayer to his father that she would dump a jar, or mountain, of dirt on the goddess.

Nico soaped himself up, muttering curses and prayers against the other Gods and Goddesses that were probably giving him grief. There was no doubt that Poseidon didn't want his child together with some loner. And Percy's Patron Goddess, the Queen Mother of the West, was probably making Nico's life difficult, too.

Nico left off grumbling as he stepped out of the shower, taking the towel that one of his skeletal servants was offering him. He wasn't going to let the gods and goddesses of the world ruin his life. He was determined to have Percy look at him as more than just a friend, he would find a way. But, Nico knew he would probably have to end things with Travis sooner rather than later. He didn't want things to do anything that might potentially destroy his friendship, and if Travis had started to think that things between them were developing in a direction that Nico was keen to avoid, that would certainly do it.

Nico went to his bedroom, rifling through his closet for a moment before deciding on his usual mostly black attire. Nico didn't really think of himself as emo, per se, it was just that he liked the color black. It fit him. Nico shrugged into a shirt reading, "I'll try to be nicer if you try to be smarter," and a dark pair of jeans before dusting heading towards the darker corner of his room and stepping into it, willing himself towards Percy's home.

Nico emerged from the shadows a scant moment later, eye to eye with Percy's stone guard dogs. There was a gravely rumbling as they both turned to look at him. Nico turned his palms towards the two of them, who sniffed at his hands, before they licked his palms and went back to their sitting position. Nico gave them a scratch on the head before calling into the house, "Percy?"

"In here!" Percy's deep voice wafted from the kitchen, along with the belly grumble inducing smell of a hearty breakfast.

"Mmm," Nico smiled as he headed towards the kitchen. "Something smells…" Nico frowned as he saw who else was in the kitchen, "foul."

Xiao Leung gave Nico a smile that was more a bearing of teeth than anything else, "It's always a pleasure, di Angelo."

Percy sighed from where he was cooking, wearing only blue trousers of somekind and an apron that sported a cartoon Cthulhu which was itself wearing an apron which said "Kiss the Great Old One". It was Percy's favorite piece of clothing to cook in. Nico was briefly hit by an image of Percy cooking in nothing but the apron before someone smacked Nico in the back of the head, ending his fantasy.

"Damn it," Nico grumbled turning to glare at Sakura, who was also giving him a conniving smile. Ping stood in the corner of the room, looking on the proceedings with an amused expression, arms crossed, body language neutral.

"Play nice, children," Percy's voice was tired. He hadn't even bothered to turn around, instead keeping his attention on what looked like bacon, some pancakes, and some sort of Asian food that Nico had no way of identifying. All he could tell was that it looked like steam buns.

Nico glared at Sakura, "Annabeth and Luke aren't here yet?" Nico asked instead, wondering why they hadn't gotten to Percy's yet. They pretty much always ate breakfast at Percy's place, even if Sakura and the others were there causing problems.

Percy just shrugged while Leung muttered something under his breath that sounded like it ran along the lines of "good riddance".

Percy said something in Chinese that caused Leung to mutter a response. Ping interjected before Leung could start to mope, as he did whenever Percy stopped him from badmouthing the Children of the West, "Annabeth and Luke were…delayed in their coming. Rachel had to be rather insistent with how she sent them home, last night, when they insisted on taking guardianship of the new Coin Bearer. It left all three of them drained."

Nico turned to Ping and nodded his thanks. Ping simply smiled by way of reply, walking over to Percy to chat more in Chinese, after which Percy scooted over and Ping started helping with the cooking. Nico simply stood off against Leung and Sakura while he waited for backup. Percy ignored the tension in the room, though Nico wasn't sure if it was because of his obliviousness or if he was trying to do so. The waves of animosity that Leung and Sakura were giving off were certainly trying to drown him.

The doorbell couldn't ring quickly enough, and before the sound had even faded, Nico was on his way to the door, "I'll get it," Nico said as he headed towards the entrance. Percy simply grunted an affirmation and waved his hand at Nico, apparently preoccupied with the food.

Nico powerwalked towards the entrance, flinging it open, "Man, am I glad to see–"

"Hello, Nico," Rachel said as she breezed past, an irate Annabeth and Luke trailing behind her.

"What are–" Nico cut himself off, facepalming and shaking his head. He really couldn't take this. It wasn't that he disliked Rachel, he didn't, but he knew she was here for political reasons just as much as she was here to see Percy. Usually, breakfasts at Percy's only consisted of Luke, Annabeth, Nico, and sometimes Rachel. The fact that Leung, Sakura, and Ping were here practically spelt politics out the wazoo.

This could only be the fault of _that_ blond.

Nico traded looks with Luke before the quartet moved into the dining room, where Percy had already started plating pancakes with bacon, sausage, and steamed buns with other weird Asian looking food for the rest. Percy's plate was just piled high with everything. Percy had apparently decided to eat half naked, as his apron was off and he had decided not to don a shirt. No one really commented, though, as it was relatively common for Percy to walk about his house next to nude.

It wasn't until Nico sat down that he noticed that all the food was _blue_. "Percy!" Nico groaned, "This color is not natural!"

"For once," Sakura said, with great dignity, "I would have to agree with di Angelo. I…am not certain this is a healthy color for me to be eating, Genbu."

Percy smiled, "Well, I love it, so there."

Luke snorted, "And that's all that matters, is it?"

Percy stuck his tongue out, "My pocket dimension, my rules."

Annabeth sighed, "Very mature, Percy. Well, I suppose we should just deal with the food and dig in, then."

After several almost companionable moments of eating, Rachel, the ruiner of Nico's life of late, decided that the peace was too much for her to handle, "So where's Jason? I was pretty sure I ported him here last night."

Annabeth and Luke gave Rachel sidelong looks, though she largely ignored them. However, rather than Percy, it was Ping who answered, "Yes, we saw him after dinner. Xuan Wu saw him to one of the guest rooms. He's been asleep since." Ping paused a moment to fix Rachel with a smile, "You might be losing your touch, Rachel. I mean, first you almost blow Xuan Wu up, and now you're sending us the divined all but unconscious."

Rachel gave Ping a mock glare, "Hey, I was new to the whole 'Oracle' thing when I nearly blew Percy up. So not my fault. And bite me, pretty boy. All you have to do is burn a couple shells."

"Burn them _artistically_." Ping said, clutching his chest in mock hurt. Percy covered up a laugh with a cough, but Rachel just rolled her eyes.

"And I say again, bite me," she chuckled, giving Ping a saucy wink.

"Alright!" Nico all but shouted. "I know the Assembly is all for intercultural cooperation, but could the two of you please not eye fuck across the table?"

"Now, Nico," Ping started with a lecherous smile, "simply because you can't get–"

"Okay!" Percy interrupted. "While I appreciate that you're not trying to kill one another and spilling blood over the table, can we talk about something else now?"

"Of course, Xuan Wu." Ping said with a smile.

Rachel arched an eyebrow at the young man, "What's the matter, Percy? It's not like it's nothing you've ever seen before."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, "That's just too much information for everyone. Can someone just go and wake up Jason? I'd hate for Luke to eat all of the food and leave none for him."

"Hey!" Luke exclaimed, "Percy and Leung are eating plenty, too!"

Annabeth eyed his plate, which was stacked much higher than Nico's, and marginally higher than Leung's, before turning her gaze to linger meaningfully on Luke's belly.

"Hey! Are you saying I'm fat?" Luke asked, dropping his cutlery and clutching at his stomach.

"I didn't say anything," Annabeth said.

"I'll show you who's fat!" Luke said, standing up. He started pulling his shirt up, Nico perusing Luke's nicely toned body before Percy just sighed and sat up, leaving the quarreling couple and the gossiping Children of the East, who were exchanging whispers, to go and grab the blond that Nico least wanted to see.

Nico looked on Luke and Annabeth's playful banter a while longer, though he was keeping an eye on Rachel and Ping out of the corner of his eye. Yes, the two of them were ostensibly neutral in any given situation, and were friends more often than not. But Nico didn't doubt that they were here in their capacities as the heads of their respective faiths, not simply as friends and occasional lovers. Sakura and Leung were definitely here with a purpose, although Nico couldn't figure it out for the life of him. He wasn't a morning person, and he didn't really want to put his brain through all the angst and ennui required by such until he had had food.

The chatter in the room fell and the tension ramped up, however, when Jason walked in, rubbing his eyes. Nico was somewhat disappointed to see that the blond wasn't clutching a teddy bear to his chest and trailing a blanket behind him. It certainly would have brightened Nico's day to see Jason act his age.

"'Mfine, Percy." Jason grumbled as he rubbed at his eyes again. He was wearing some of Percy's Asian clothes. They looked like training attire, and hung rather loosely about Jason's frame.

Percy rolled his eyes and smiled, "Says the dude who almost walked out here without clothes."

Jason glared at Percy half-heartedly, "Hey. I would have noticed eventually."

Leung again muttered something in Chinese, at which Percy laughed and said, "Well, at least you've gotten used to it when I do it, right?" Leung just snorted.

Jason sat down at the table, between Rachel and Ping. He looked like he was still waking up, and when Percy placed a plate of blue western food in front of him Jason took a long hard look at it before blinking slowly, "Um. Maybe I'm still just asleep or whatever, but is my food blue?"

"Sorry," Percy said as, shuffling towards the kitchen, "I forgot to get the orange juice and the water and stuff."

Jason glared at Percy's retreating form before looking at Rachel, "The food really is blue, right? I'm not, like, going crazy or anything?"

Rachel nodded sagely, "Percy likes the color blue. He only really dyes the food blue, though, when we're all together like this." Rachel said as she waved a hand at the assembled scions.

Jason arched an eyebrow at that, "Is there any particular reason for that?"

Percy laughed as he interrupted, holding a pitcher of orange juice and a pitcher of water in one hand, and a pot of tea in another, with a metal grating stuffed under the arm that was carrying the tea, "It's because the only thing any of these guys can agree on is that blue food is weird."

Nico laughed and stood up to help Percy with the beverages, "It _is_ weird, Percy. I don't know what's going on in that blue ridden brain of yours, but most people don't eat blue food."

Percy arched an eyebrow at Nico as the other boy took the orange juice and water. Percy set down the metal grate and put the teapot on top of it before saying, "Your blue blueberry pancakes say otherwise, mister."

Nico nudged Percy with his shoulder, laughing with his friend. He enjoyed these moments of easy camaraderie between the two of them. And, judging by the calculating look Jason had adopted, the blond disliked them just as much.

"Anyway, Percy, you know that we do have some business to take care of this morning." Rachel said as Percy sat down. She turned her head away from Nico as he and Jason traded level gazes before turning to look at Percy, who was sighing as he poured himself some tea.

"I know you have business to discuss with _Jason_, Rachel. I don't know of any business you would have with me." Percy said calmly before stuffing his face with a piece of pancake.

Rachel arched an eyebrow at him, "You know very well that the Assembly reserves the right to dictate the Patron of newcomers, Coin Bearer or not. And, as the only other Coin Bearer in residence at the Academy, you're the only logical choice!"

Jason tapped Rachel's shoulder, "Sorry if this sounds stupid, but what exactly do you mean by Patron?"

Rachel shrugged, "I mean that Percy has been chosen to show you the ropes, more than just giving you a guided tour, he's going to be your mentor. He would be responsible for your growth and development here."

Leung glared at Rachel, "This would only be the case if Xuan Wu accepted the position. Which he has not."

Percy promptly stuffed more food into his mouth. Jason judiciously decided to follow his example.

Luke was about to say something, but Nico noticed that Annabeth crushed her boyfriend's toes with the heel of her foot to silence him. Luke winced and shot a questioning look at Annabeth, who just gestured her head towards Rachel. It seemed that Annabeth was supporting this, and while it might benefit the Dun as a whole, Nico did not want Jason interacting with Percy on a regular basis.

"The Assembly has final say in such matters," Rachel said as she turned her formidable gaze towards Leung, who met her stare. "The Children of the East have no authority in this matter."

"Well," Sakura interjected, glancing at Ping, "I wouldn't say that."

Ping just shrugged, "I don't see any particular problem with choosing Xuan Wu as the new Coin Bearer's Patron. But for the fact that Xuan Wu isn't a Child of the West, that is, which is technically a requirement for the position."

Annabeth interjected this time, before Rachel could say anything, "Percy is a Son of Poseidon. He's just as much a Child of the West as Leung is a Child of the East."

Ping shrugged, "Xuan Wu _is_ half spirit, on his father's side, yes. And yes, that spirit happens to be western. But, like most Children of the East, Xuan Wu has also been chosen by one of the Gods to champion their cause. Neither I, nor Xiao Leung nor Sakura have a single drop of divine blood, and yet we all wield enough power to rival scions such as yourselves, hm?" Ping's gaze was relaxed and calm, and Nico could see the tension at the table mounting.

"What does that have to do with anything? None of that changes the fact that Percy is a demigod." Luke said before ripping a strip of bacon with his teeth.

"It means, Castellan," Sakura said as she daintily placed her chopsticks down on her plate, "that Genbu is also a Child of the East. He may not be a scion of Eastern origin, but we have never had a particularly high population of scions to begin with. As a Child of the East, the Forbidden City has just as much a say in who Genbu teaches as the Dun."

"Ping," Rachel said, addressing her counterpart directly, "this is insane. We don't want the Dun and Forbidden City fighting over Patronage now, as well. As the Oracle, I am allowed to decide who is to take on Jason. Not the Dun. Not the Forbidden City. Not you."

Ping shrugged, "I never disputed that. I'm simply saying that Xuan Wu is not a child of a single domain. And if you decide such things unilaterally, for fear of political scrambling in the Dun, you could very well offend some of the Children of the Four Quarters. Arrow Song may not sit on the Assembly proper, but her brother does. I would not wish to anger either her or Dancing Bull, would you?"

Rachel ground her teeth, "If we sit on our hands with this issue, who knows what could happen. This is the first Coin Bearer who's position isn't in question for over a century!"

"Um," Jason interjected meekly, almost raising his hand, "I thought Percy was a Coin Bearer, too. Did you have to go through all of this?" Jason addressed the last at Percy, who shook his head.

Percy appeared to debate, for a moment, whether to give Jason a thorough answer or maintain the safety of a full mouth. Unfortunately, Percy being the kind hearted person that he was, decided to throw the blond a bone, "Since I was a Child of the West, but had an eastern coin, no one really wanted me. They just sort of dumped me in the Mixed Quarter, and they don't really care about the whole Patronage thing there. Teaching newcomers there is sort of a community thing."

"Which is how it should be in the West," Sakura interjected. Percy heaved a sigh and stuffed his mouth as Sakura continued, "Give Jason to your vaunted Council or Moot. They can decide what to do with him."

Jason shook his head, "Do I get no say in this?"

Rachel heaved a sigh, "Usually, yes, you would be. But high profile newcomers can be a source of…contention."

Jason rubbed at his face, staring longingly at his food, "Contention how?"

Annabeth shrugged, "A lot of people want the benefit of a potentially powerful ally in the future. The best way to ensure that is to start when that potentially powerful person first arrives."

Jason arched an eyebrow at the girl, "Oh? You don't want to just get rid of them all off the bat?"

Percy almost spit out his food, "What? Who said anything about getting rid of anyone?" Percy's voice caused the walls of the room to tremble, though the shutters were closed, something outside was causing them to rattle as the house matched Percy's state of agitation.

Luke piped up then, "Look, Perce, Jason, we didn't mean we were trying to hurt you or anything. It's just, we haven't really had a Roman Coin Bearer in a while, and, well, being a Roman makes things complicated."

Percy gave Luke a look that could freeze water, "So better get rid of the complicated stuff now, right Luke? You know, your brother felt the same way."

Luke flinched, but Annabeth came to his defense, "This is completely different, Percy!"

The ground started to rumble as Percy met Annabeth's grey eyes with calm disdain, "Really? Funny. I don't see it that way."

Jason looked sort of shocked that this was a big deal for Precy. But, when the blond glanced askance at Nico, the Son of Hades knew he had to beat the blond to the punch before he let out that Nico had been one of the ones who had wanted Jason gone.

"Look," Nico said. He didn't usually like speaking when everyone was so riled up, but he couldn't stand the smug looks on Leung and Sakura's faces any more than he could stomach the idea of Percy getting upset with him for wanting Jason out of the Academy, "Annabeth, Luke and I were talking about some of the problems that might pop up when people started gossiping about who Jason's father is. You know Octavian and Reyna. They're going to be all over this. And, well, since Jason wasn't even sure if he was staying here, we were talking about how we might help him get back home and wipe his memories and stuff. Just some base covering stuff. Jason just walked in on the conversation and misunderstood, is all." Nico gave Percy a pleading look as he spoke, willing the older male to understand.

After Nico finished, the rumbling in the floor and walls began to subside, "I…suppose that's reasonable, yeah." Percy admitted grudgingly.

Jason looked a bit miffed, "So, this whole Patronage thing isn't decided until I figure out if I want to stay here or not?"

Rachel was giving Nico a measuring look, but answered Jason's question anyway, "That's right. Unless you decide you actually want to attend the Academy, whether or not you have a Patron, let alone if it's going to be Percy, is all a moot point. I had _hoped_," Rachel's teeth gritted as her eyes practically spat fire at Nico, "to get all of this settled early on. We can never know what the future has in store for any of us. It's usually best to be prepared."

Ping frowned as he looked at Rachel, and Nico felt a chill run down his spine. Had she seen something in their future that had made her want to do this? Had he changed the outcome? What was she getting so worked up about?

Percy sighed, "Well, if it's alright with you guys, I was kind of hoping to enjoy my weekend a bit before training starts up again tomorrow. Jason and I will drop by the Dun later after I finish the dishes up and show him around the house, yeah?"

Sakura coughed delicately into her fist. Percy rolled his eyes, "And I'll come by temple services later, Sakura, promise."

Sakura smiled, "Your, ah, admirers have been complaining to me that you don't spend nearly enough time at the Forbidden Palace of late."

Percy groaned and dropped his head into his hands, "I'm sure they don't. Anyway, goodbye, everyone. I want to mope and skulk at the prospect of arranged marriages and fangirls in peace, thank you."

Leung and Sakura laughed as they headed towards the door, Luke and Annabeth following. Nico made to go after them when Rachel caught him, glanced back at Percy, and then pushed him down a hallway near the entrance of the house, Ping following close behind.

"I'm warning you, Nico. Don't interfere with this again. I understand why you don't want Jason near Percy, okay? I get it. I really do. But we all know the stakes this game has. Zoë lost. And, Nico, if you keep this up, none of us are going to win." Rachel's eyes were bright with fey light as she pushed Nico up against the wall.

"Why? Just tell me, Rachel, what did you see?" Nico was desperate, at this point. He had to know why he couldn't pursue Percy now, of all times. Rachel had never interfered with his ambitions for Percy. She had usually been one of his few allies. Why was she changing her tune now?

Ping walked up behind Rachel and placed his hand on her shoulder. She shuddered and turned away from Nico, sighing as she buried her face in her friend's shoulder. Ping looked up at Nico, "You should know that she can't answer that, Nico di Angelo." Nico shivered as Ping said his name. "Those of use with the gift are not allowed to share what we see, or why we see it. We tried that. It didn't work out."

Nico glanced down the hall, watching Percy and Jason talk, both of them no doubt assuming all of the guests had already left, "What harm is there in telling me anything? The Oracles shared the future for centuries."

Rachel snorted, "Yeah. I'm sure Oedipus is real glad the Oracle decided to share his prophecy." She looked up at Nico, and with Ping standing behind her, she could see how the Assembly was able to remain independent from the West or East. They practically radiated power at that moment. "All I can tell you, Nico, is that you are standing at a crossroads. Push too hard, and you'll prevent the future you seek. Push to little, and you're desires will be stolen out from under you. You are working against Fate, Nico di Angelo."

Ping nodded, "And when you seek to shatter the threads with which Fate has bound us, you must walk the path of prudence. Your opportunity will come, Nico di Angelo, and you will know it when it does."

Nico just stood there, dumbfounded for a moment as Ping and Rachel walked out the front door. He quietly retreated into the shadows and traveled to the safety and comfort of his home, where he could only wonder how exactly to go about shattering his and Percy's fates.


End file.
